


Among The Stars: Phantom and Mercenary

by AdmirableMairon



Series: Hunters of Outer Space [2]
Category: Alien vs Predator (2004), Aliens vs Predators Series - Various Authors, Predator Original Series (1987-1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018)
Genre: Alien Abduction, Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Alien Planet, Alien Sex, Awkward Flirting, Bad Bloods, Begging, Biting, Blood and Gore, Breeding, Claiming, Cunnilingus, Dirty Talk, Doggy Style, Dom/sub, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, First Time Blow Jobs, Gang Violence, Happy Ending, Human Experimentation, Hunters & Hunting, Interrogation Roleplay, Interspecies Relationship(s), Lack of Communication, Light Bondage, Marking, Masturbation, Misunderstandings, Oral Sex, Orphan - Freeform, Orphanage, Porn With Plot, Praise Kink, Rape Roleplay, Roleplay, Rough Sex, Scent Kink, Sexual Tension, Shameless Smut, Size Difference, Size Kink, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Training, Unrequited Love, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Voice Kink, traumatic childhood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:01:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28655376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdmirableMairon/pseuds/AdmirableMairon
Summary: Having lost everything, Jane finds herself in a bit of a sticky situation. Can she coexist with the green alien hunter and persuade him to aid her in her revenge?Following a single lead, Gahtan ventures back to earth, but his task just got a lot more complicated when an unexpected ooman appeared.This is a both spin-off and sequel to my first fanfic, Light Years Away. I strongly suggest you read that first.
Relationships: Predator/Human, Yautja (Predator)/Original Character(s), Yautja (Predator)/Original Female Character(s), Yautja (Predator)/Reader, Yautja/Human
Series: Hunters of Outer Space [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099226
Comments: 31
Kudos: 84





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> 1/9/2021: I’m back, I guess.  
> I’ve had this plot in my head for a while now, and I started working on the story since last December - thanks for working from home, I now have a bit of time to indulge myself in my silly writing - Originally, I was going to post this work upon completion, but a comment I saw few days ago made me change my mind.  
> So, here it is, as a New Years gift. Hope you guys will enjoy this.

“What a fucking mess.” Paul Carson cursed as he walked across the abandoned, dimly lit facility in stride.

There was a look of disgust on his face as he maneuvered his way around the blood and marred bodies on the floor. He was dressed in his typical attire: an expensive black jacket over a white designer shirt unbuttoned at the collar, pants and Italian shoes. The debonair man looked completely incongruous in the surroundings of the dilapidated building. He was flanked by an entourage of people that followed him closely, all on high alert with automatic machine guns aimed at the injured person, who was sitting against a wall. Cornered.

Standing in a clean spot, Paul stopped before the person within a safe distance. He could see the visible bullet holes in the person’s arm, shoulder and leg from here clearly. Thick, red blood trickling down like rivulet.

“I’m sorry you have to see this. You are supposed to be the first clean kill if Maryann here didn’t miss the headshot.” Paul apologized to the person with sincerity in his voice.

“I don’t miss.” Maryann - a tall, gorgeous brunette in her late fifties - appeared and corrected him whilst holding the FN Ballista sniper rifle with both hands. “One half millimeter adjustment of my rifle scope would have her brain decorating this filthy floor. I’ve done my part of the job as promised. If you want her to die you can kill her yourself, Paul.” Maryann said as her eyes fixated on the disarmed person, the only person she had had trained - her apprentice - she refused to imbrue her hands in her blood. Maryann’s face remained neutral and inscrutable as she watched her, if there was a slight feeling of guilt or remorse, Maryann wasn’t showing it.

“Damn, you are tough.” Paul Carson moved a step back after seeing the person struggled to stand up, despite the fact that he was protected by six armed men. And she was disarmed.

Jane Campbell struggled to support her body against the wall then moved her head up, the mere motion caused the nausea so intense that it overpowered the physical pain that was coursing through her body, the dim light overhead was blinding her eyes, coupled with the constant ringing in her ears. ****Concussion****. From her head slamming into the ground when she was taking the hits.

 _Stupid,_ she thought. She panted as the previous moments played back in her head.

_“Status report.” Jane Campbell demanded, keeping her weapon trained on the building’s entrance._

_“Heat signatures confirmed seven targets in total at the far end of the building,” Control replied, “the underground level is unclear, I’m unable to get a fixed reading. I can’t send in the drone without being made.”_

_“Is the information reliable?” Jane asked._

_“Affirmative. The asset is in the building.” Control confirmed. “Team is in position and awaiting orders, Captain.”_

_“We secure the ground level then move in to neutralize the asset. No survivors. Go.” Jane said flatly. The last single word triggered all other five team members emerged from their covers and went into action, her team converged at the entrance in a short moment._

_“Pop it.” She commanded calmly and a few seconds later the metal door popped open with a faint squeak. Jane could feel the familiar rush of adrenaline coursing through her body in anticipation of the kill._

_The warehouse complex was a front owned by the Novak family, they were an up-and-coming gang in the city, until recently they started moving product without giving their cut. On the outside, it appeared to be an abandoned facility, but all illegal activities were conducted in the basement level, unseen. And according to the intel, they were transporting a considerably large amount of drugs tonight, large enough that Novak’s son was supervising the transportation personally. Which was precisely why her boss had ordered this hit._

_“Fan out.” She whispered into the earpiece once the team got inside the building._

_The facility was eerily quiet and empty, they could still make out the surroundings under the inadequate lighting but the place was not dark enough to use the night vision goggles. Jane felt the hair on her neck stood up as they moved further into the rear of the building._

_“I’ve got moment here,” Max, one of the teammates suddenly whispered. Causing other members to freeze in mid-advancement and take cover._

_“Same here,” Morgan, another teammate echoed._

_“Control, how many in total?” Jane requested. This was supposed to be a blitz attack, she’d like to keep that element of surprise a bit longer until they secured the ground level first._

_“Team, you’ve got more incoming to your —,” Control suddenly got cutoff._

_“Contact!” Lee shouted as he squeezed the trigger at the armed enemies appeared out of nowhere. In a split second, a barrage of gunfire ensued._

_“Move in. Secure the ground level.” Jane ordered, stepping out from behind the cover of the beam and racing toward the enemies. Somehow, they were made._

_She saw three more adversaries marched into view from around the far side of the building, Jane released the air in her lungs and squeezed the trigger, watching them dropped to the ground as her and her team fired. An instant later, another wave of attack from the enemies unleashed in a more concerted effort, and this time with enough firepower to pin her team down with a heavy assault. A shower of bullets rained down, sending bricks and rubble flying over them. In that blink of a moment, she glanced and saw a dozen of men - to her estimate. This was definitely more than seven targets._

_“Fuck! Where did they all come from?” Ethan shouted next to Jane while they both crouched down below a shattered window._

_“Ethan, Reese, I need you two provide covering fire, the rest of the team go in with me on my mark.” Jane shouted back. They needed to move in, to suppress the attack. There must be more of them in the basement._

_In a well-coordinated fashion, Jane waited a few more seconds when Ethan and Reese brought their guns up to return fire, suppressing the enemies to duck for cover._

_“Flank them.” She gave the hand gesture to other team members and they dashed behind the stacked crates and abandoned equipments in the facility, when they got close enough to have clear visual on their targets, they fired at them. The last man just had enough time to run for cover before Jane took him in the back of the head. After a brief of absolute silence as they expected more hostiles, they checked the surroundings again to make sure the place was secure._

_“All clear.” Jane said, finally lowering her weapon._

_Other members emerged from their covers, Ethan and Reese raced forward to join the team while they checked the fallen bodies. The placed smelled of gunpowder._

_“Fuck, we just hit the jackpot, Captain. This is the asset, Novak’s son.” Morgan said, pointing the muzzle of his gun at the dead body._

_They all walked over, staring down at the lifeless corpse, Jane squatted down to check the face of the dead body closely, “Reese and Ethan go check the basement, the rest of you stay here to hold the facility. Lee, take a picture of Novak.” She ordered._

_“Copy that.” They replied in unison._

_Jane brought her hand up to the earpiece to contact Control, but there was still no response, only statics. She frowned at this. Maybe it was the interference or poor connection?_

_“The basement is clean, Captain. No drugs, no workers, nothing. Not even an ounce of powder here.” Reese said as he moved to join the team with Ethan after they finished sweeping the basement. “At least, we neutralized the asset.”_

_Jane frowned again, could it be a bad intel? She suddenly had a bad feeling about this._

_“Let’s move out, try to contact Control again.” Jane ordered, dismissing the knot in her stomach._

_Following her instructions, They moved quickly to the entrance. It was late, given the time of night and remote location, the attack went unnoticed._

_“Control isn’t responding, Captain.” Max said as they stepped out of the building._

_“Is he dozing off?” Lee chimed in next to Jane, “Booker, you are buying all the drinks tomorrow if you—,”_

_Jane looked at Lee when he suddenly stopped his banter as she heard the familiar squishy sound - the sound when a bullet traveling through the flash and shattering the bones - she felt warm blood splashed against her face. In that confused second, she saw Lee’s body slumped to the ground, half of his skull missing._

_“Sniper! Get down! Get down!” Jane shouted as she lowered her body and sought for the cover. In her peripheral vision, she saw the IR laser pointer aiming up and Reese was down before he could conceal himself._

_“Control, send in the drone!” No response, “Booker! Come in! We need visual on that sniper’s location! Fuck!” Jane cursed when another shot fired._

_“We are sitting ducks here, we need to get back to that building!” Morgan shouted to her behind the cover._

_“When I tell you guys to run, you run!” Jane called out, reaching the phosphorus grenade from one of her utility pockets and tossed it to the open ground. “Go, go, go!” She shouted to them, and immediately they ran back to the building when the sniper was temporarily blinded by the bright light. Once they were inside, they shielded themselves behind a wall, blocking the sniper’s view. Jane let out a deep breath she didn’t know she was holding._

_“Fuck! Lee and Reese are dead!” Max cursed in shock._

_“What the fuck just happened? They know we are here, they have a sniper waiting to take us out.” Ethan looked at Jane for answers._

_“Something is wrong.” Jane replied as her mind raced in search of an answer, that bad feeling she had had returned. One thing she was certain - the intel was false. Her instincts told her this smelled too much of a setup._

_“This is a fucking ambush. Booker sold us out!” Morgan exclaimed, he jumped to his own conclusion when Booker was unreachable through the comm._

_“Now it’s not the time to play Sherlock Holmes.” Jane glared at him, she may or may not agree with Morgan about Booker, but they had more pressing matters at hand. For all she knew, there could be more men trying to surround this building if they hadn’t already done so, then they would be trapped in a kill zone. “We need to find another exit and get to the van.” She ordered._

_Immediately, Jane led Max, Morgan and Ethan to the rear of the facility, carefully avoiding windows from the sniper’s line of sight. The place was large but the layout was easy to navigate among the abandoned equipments. They paid no attention to the dead bodies lying on the floor and kept on moving. But before they were able to locate an alternative exit, a man suddenly stepped out from the shadows, Jane lowered her gun in time before she shot the man, she told her team to hold fire after she confirmed his identity._

_“Paul?” She froze momentarily. Shocked._

_In that split second when her mind was distracted, six more men appeared. Jane just had time to leap out of the way, to warn her teammates when the guns fired at them. The floor reared up, smacking the back of her head and filling her with blackness. When her eyes were open, she wasn’t seeing right, everything was fuzzy and indistinct, she was badly injured with a concussion. And her teammates were all dead._

“Why?” Jane looked up at Paul Carson and asked, nausea enveloped her again as her face twisted in pain.

“It’s nothing personal, Jane.” Paul answered in his sincerest manner, “you see, when my dad decided to let me handle all the financials years ago, all I ever wanted is to expand our business and that’s exactly what I did. I washed our money clean, turning it into buildings, real estates, stock exchanges, and even pharmaceuticals. Our earnings have increased exponentially since then.” He paused as if he was expecting some kind of reaction from her. A recognition, perhaps. But Jane remained silent, waiting for his punch line.

“After the demonstration of my talent, you’d think he would trust me with his organization by now. I tried to persuade him to see things from my perspective, but we both know how that went. I, and especially my new partners can’t let that happen.” He said.

“So, you fed me and my team the false intel. I assume Booker is dead when we got cutoff.” Jane replied, her mind was groggy as she did her best to focus. Looked like Morgan and her instincts were correct. This was an ambush, after all. But _she_ was the ultimate target.

“No and yes. The intel was good. Dad agreed to eliminate Novak’s drug-ridden son to send a message when they violated the terms of our contract. The Novak family is growing fast. A little too fast. They needed to be knocked down a notch,” Paul Carson continued, “but I did inform Novak about the attack tonight. I was honestly hoping both of you would kill each other so I wouldn’t have to kill you myself, but I knew not to underestimate you.” He looked at Maryann and his henchmen, and was once again glad about his contingency plan. _One can never be too careful._ Particularly Jane.

“Don’t hate me, Jane. My dad gave me no choice. I know you have no intention to take over his business. But I know the old man well, as long as you continue to exist, he’ll never give me the full control.” He moved in closer to have a better look of her pale face, blocking the overhead light that was blinding her vision. “Besides, you are an outsider.”

Jane smiled at Paul derisively and somehow wasn’t surprised, she couldn’t blame him for taking such extreme measure, either. She was an outsider, indeed. Jane Campbell had been working for Paul’s father, Ed Carson for ten years now, he trusted her skillset and loyalty. But Paul was wrong about one thing. Ed Carson never wanted her to take over his business. He just wanted to prevent this _partnership_ that Paul had worked so hard for from happening.

Ed Carson started his arms dealing business in his early 20’s. He’d made his fortune by supplying armaments both import and export. The distribution network he’d established with his charm and sharp intelligence made him later become one of the most prolific weapon dealers. For over decades, Ed Carson had expanded his organization with vast resources since its inception. Every other gang paid tribute to The Carsons for the privilege of doing business in this city. In return, the Carson family would provide safe passages through their docks, trading routes and as well as money laundering services.

Paul Carson was right. He had made everyone rich since he stepped in, just by sitting behind a desk with a computer. One of the many reasons why his father had sent him to the best law school, to study in law and finance. Ed Carson was a visionary, he knew precisely what future demanded. And he had groomed Paul for that one purpose: to be his successor one day. Nowadays, wars were not fight on the street no more. Instead, moving money without a trace was the weapon. You could sit behind a desk anywhere in the world and still bring down your enemies.

But if there was one thing that Ed Carson never believed in, it was _partnership_. The reason was simple as she remembered his exact words: _P_ _artnership is just like United Nations. The more members it has, the more arguments you can stir up, and the more futile and impotent it becomes._ Jane agreed to disagree. There were, of course, pros and cons when it comes to partnerships, but times change and we change with times. That’s what she believed.

Except _this_ time. This time, she agreed with Ed Carson without doubts.

Moving and funneling money in large amounts through the organization, they attract certain attention. Over a month ago, the family was approached by a private clique, to be more precise - the representatives of the richest people on this planet, the _Oversight_. Paul’s talent in business had caught their interest, the party wanted to form a mutual partnership. In exchange - they would offer significant resources that one could only dream of.

Ed Carson refused such offer. He didn’t trust these people, especially when these people wished to remain in the dark. Hence the representatives. It was part of the agreement that The Carsons only deal with their representatives, not the Oversight. However, Paul Carson had a different agenda, he was ambitious to jump at the opportunity and was fine with such unusual request, so long as he could bring his talent into full use.

After the meeting, no matter how persuasive Paul was, Ed would not form a partnership with them. These people were too powerful. Additionally, their inclination to keep their identities secret gave him bad vibes, the matter was now beyond lack of faith or trust at this point. In the end, Ed Carson resorted to a bit more extreme method in an attempt to stop this partnership. Leaving the organization to _her_ should anything ill happens to him. Fuck, Ed may as well signed her death warrant. She realized.

“Damn it, Paul. You are so focused on this partnership that you’re ignoring the potential threat. How can you fight an invisible enemy if one of them decided to turn on you?” Jane cursed through a hissed breath, how could he not see this?

“Every opportunity comes with a risk, Jane. I can always trace my own money, the numbers never lie, they will lead me to them. Besides, as long as I keep their money clean and untraceable. I don’t see why they would turn against me, I’m too useful to them.” He replied confidently and continued his pitch, “what they can offer here is real business expansion. I’m not talking about bribing dirty cops or city mayors. They can offer so much more, they’ve got half the Senate on a retainer and that’s not all of it. Imagine the potential growth, the power. We can go global.”

“You are being delusional. There is always a catch.” Jane disagreed when she heard the answer to that. It was power he truly sought, and the money was another benefit motivated by his endless greed.

“I don’t normally make empty promises, especially when I’m this committed to my cause.” Paul reached out to grab her chin, lifting her face up. 

Her Chinese heritage was clearly predominant in her features and dark eyes, except around the jaw and nose. Her long, natural chestnut hair and fair skin were subtle clues pointing to other ancestry as well. Could be Russian or other Eastern European descent, but nobody knew. She was an orphan. _Such a beautiful face,_ he thought to himself. There were a lot of men died in her hand simply because they underestimated her due to her youthful looks. Human genes could be so unfair sometimes. It’s a shame he had to end her. What a waste of such...beauty and talent.

“Why didn’t you choose me when I needed you the most, Jane? You’re like a sister to me.” Paul released his grip on her chin, stepped back with some reluctance. For a moment, they stared at each other in still silence, as if to say goodbye.

“We found a dog in the back of the van, sir. What should I do?” One bearded man suddenly spoke after he walked in with a chocolate Labrador Retriever on the leash.

Jane’s face turned into horror. “No, not Dexter! Don’t kill him, he’s a great dog. Young, heathy and well trained. He could be of good use to you. Please, Paul!” She shouted desperately, the exertion left her panting for air.

Dexter was a puppy used as bait dog in an underground dog fight when she saved him two years ago. The image of him being tied up, shivering in terror still vivid in her mind. This sadistic side of human nature disgusted her greatly, she killed the organizer to end the twisted game. It was something of an irony to Jane that the skills she had learned was to kill, and she was working for an arms dealer. The only thing that kept her conscious clean at night was she knew all the people she’d killed were bad guys. So, no loosing sleep over it. On the contrary, she slept quite well. But not sweet Dexter.

“I’m disappointed you’d think of me like an uncivilized person. I have my limits, Jane. Rest assured, nothing bad will happen to him.” Paul turned and said to the man, “Dexter is my dog now, take him with me.”

“Thank you.” Jane murmured to him, watching the man petting the dog as Dexter licked his hand with affection. _What a good boy._

“Time to die, my dear,” there was a hint of sadness in Paul’s voice as he tried his best to act unaffected. He didn’t have a choice. He knew this was also a test from his new partners. A test for his commitment and loyalty. It had to be done.

Looking up into his blue eyes, Jane said with a wan smile, “I don’t think so, Paul.”

She closed her eyes tightly shut and covered her ears after a flash-bang rolled out of her hand, detonating in the center of the space.

“Get out!” Maryann shouted to everyone.

A sudden deafening _bang_ from the explosion sent everyone covering their ears, as aburst of bright light filled them with temporary blindness before they could react timely, disorienting all their senses. Jane could feel the excruciating pain spreading through her body and filling her with splitting headache. The ringing in her ears intensified, she threw up when nausea returned again.

Jane peeled her eyes open, her vision distorted and blurred. She could see their indistinct forms trying to get up from the floor. She didn’t have much time, the affects of the stun grenade wouldn’t last long. But she could barely move her body. _Fuck! Five minutes, that’s all I need._ Jane concentrated on her breathing, struggling to keep it slow and even. She moved both of her hands, took the only two autoinjectors of epinephrine out of her cargo pocket. Thumping the caps off, she gripped them side by side and shot the needles straight through the fabric of her pants into her outer thigh, holding them in place until a double click announced that the doses had administered.

Immediately, warmth surged through her, rolling up her stomach and chest, setting her mouth tingling. Her vision snapped into focus with a sudden heightened clarity. She’d pay for it later.

Gladly.

Standing up, Jane moved forward to pickup her gun off of the floor when the rest of them starting to recover from the affects of the stun grenade. She made her way towards the door and she heard Paul shouting to the men behind her: “She cannot leave here alive!”

Running with an injured leg slowed her down significantly. Luckily, the van was only meters away, the sight of it urged her to ignore the pain, to move faster. When the moment she reached the van, her hopes were crushed - car keys were gone, all tires had been slashed - Paul made sure he was very thorough, shit!

Panting, she looked around for another vehicle, but her pursuers were catching up fast. She took a defensive position to fire but her aim wavered due to physical exertion, the adrenaline was starting to fade. She had to run and hide. Heading toward the woods, she stopped to catch her breath while hiding herself among the trees. However, her rest didn’t last long as she heard Dexter’s barking grew ever louder, apparently leading them to her position. She cursed again, part of Dexter’s training was to track down people, she just didn’t think it’d be used on her. For once, she regretted having him trained so well.

Jane discarded her automatic gun and started running again, with her blurred vision returned, she couldn’t even aim to shoot, it’d only slow her down. She followed her instincts, just kept on running, until she slipped and fell down a slope, the momentum sent her body rolling down the hill. Instinctively, she protected her head with both arms. Her falling finally came to a stop when her body landed at the bottom of the hill, slamming the back of her head, regardless.

For a moment, she was filled with blackness, then her eyes were seeing colors. A shooting pain laced its way from the top of her skull down through her teeth. Given her concussion just occurred moments ago, she was lucky that she’d survived the second-impact syndrome, if another slam to her head again, she’d be dead. There was a reason why there wasn’t a name for third-impact syndrome, because no one made it that far.

She ripped the Kevlar vest open to allow more air into her lungs. Despite the exhaustion and pain, Jane dragged her body up, staggered her way through the woods. She was loosing a lot of blood, even without the concussion she was only delaying her death if she didn’t stanch the flow of blood soon. She had imagined her death many times before, she knew that day would eventually come for her. And today might be that day, but dying like this was far from what she’d expected - covering in blood, sweat and dirt - How come this happened to her? Jane asked herself as her life flashed before her eyes.

_She was orphaned weeks after she was born. According to Miss Elizabeth - the keeper of the orphanage - she found her wrapped in a thick blanket on the door step on a freezing day in December, crying. There was no name or date of birth given, no letter as to why she was abandoned by the mother, just an embroidered blanket with a Chinese character - it translated as Blessing when she later mastered the language, hence her predominant Chinese heritage._

_Miss Elizabeth never named her properly, just called her Jane Doe in hopes that the mother would regret after a clear head and may reclaim her back, that wasn’t unusual, especially when it comes to a newborn baby. But not in Jane’s case, and everyone started calling her Jane Doe ever since. Jane hated that name. Fortunately, Miss Elizabeth did her best to care for her._

_As years went by, Jane watched every other kids got adopted, except her. She didn’t know why, others said she was too quiet, or too shy, perhaps. Didn’t know how to win their affection over the potential adopters. It wasn’t until she was ten years old, a foster home decided to take her in, and everyone was happy for Jane, including herself. But as it later turned out, that was the worst three years of her childhood life._

_Her new foster home in Cleveland was far worse than she’d thought. They settled her in the basement, along with ten other kids. With only a handful of bunk beds, she had to sleep on a piece of mattress on the floor. But that wasn’t the worst of it yet. There was never enough food to feed every kid. Everyday she had to fight with other bigger boys for the leftovers and every time she ended up with more bruises due to her smaller size. Starving for a day or two was common to her, and on top of that, they had to do chores around the house. She was just another paycheck to the couple._

_Trapped in that hellish house, watching cars go by from the playground across the street was the only thing that distracted her from the harsh reality, as she often wondered about other people’s lives. What does that man do for a living to own a Mercedes and three Land Rovers? She pondered, watching them eating at a roadside diner then walked back into the cars. A man in his early fifties walked across the street, stopped before her._

_“What’s your name, little girl?” The man in black suit asked._

_“Jane.” She answered._

_“Jane what?” He asked again._

_“Just Jane.” She replied defiantly._

_“Ok, Jane. I’m Jack, Jack Campbell.” The man introduced himself to her, he smiled at her and continued, “how old are you?”_

_“I’m thirteen,” Jane said firmly, looking at him with earnest dark eyes. She looked small for her age._

_“What if I say you have a chance few others will ever have. A chance to get what you want, to be strong,” the man said, “will you take that chance, Jane?”_

_She mulled his question over for a moment, nodded her head. The man then offered his hand to her and she took it, walking away with him._

_“Are you going to hurt me?” Jane asked before he led her into the Mercedes._

_“Yes, sometimes. But I promise I will never lie to you.” He answered and opened the passenger door for her._

_Jane looked back at that house, then got in the car and never looked back again._

_“Who is this dirty kid, Jack?” Ed Carson asked as Jack sat next to him in the back seat of the Mercedes._

_“My legacy, Ed.” Jack Campbell replied simply._

_Jack Campbell had kept his promise, he never lied to her. Few days after she’d settled down - an isolated cabin in the woods - Jane had been hurt, beaten, and injured during her intensive training. She knew who he worked for and why she was here. Like he’d promised. He never lied._

_Jack Campbell once was a member of the Delta Force, until his superior sent him on a fully deniable mission, to neutralize a high valued target. When the job was completed, they disavowed him to deny any involvement with the attack. The cohorts of the deceased target swore to seek revenge. Without the government funding and resources, Jack Campbell had nowhere to go. It was then that Ed Carson offered to help. In exchange, Jack would provide his expertise to the family. After being used by the people he trusted, only then to be discarded like a piece of trash, Jack accepted the offer. Besides, Ed Carson was a man who had his own codes, he only sells weapons, nothing else. If others want to do business in his city, they give him their cut. Ed doesn’t judge what lines of businesses they are in, as long as it isn’t human trafficking. Ed abhorred such inhuman cruelty. That was also part of the reason why Jack had decided to take the job, better be a mercenary than dead, he thought. After years of working for Ed Carson, they seemed to share the same ideological values as they grew to trust one another with respect. To Ed Carson, Jack Campbell wasn’t just a mere mercenary anymore, he was a trusted family friend as well._

_When Jane first moved in, she disliked Jack’s strict rules and training methods. Sometimes, he would drag her out of bed in the middle of the night to practice target shooting; or he would make her run in the snow with only shorts and T-shirt. When the weather was severe, the more extreme training guaranteed. Along with other lessons like counter-interrogation skills, beating sessions, close-encounter hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, and foreign languages. And more._

_Before bedtime, Jack would make her read literature books and study homework. To her it was worse than the harsh training she’d endured. But no matter how she complained, the thought of leaving this place never occurred to her. Here, she at least got to have hot meals and a warm bed. And she was getting stronger each day._

_For years, Jack had trained her the way he was trained in the army, he’d taught her everything he knew. Later, there came a second teacher Maryann, she was a good shot, an exceptional sniper. Jane’s marksmanship was already excellent compared to others, but Maryann could make her guns dance. Each month, she would take Jane to the city for a week to teach her shootings. But most importantly, Maryann was also there to guide her through her puberty._

_Jack was very good at what he did, but as a man, there were things about women he was not very good at. He was never married, no kids. And perhaps that’s why he took her in. Jane didn’t know what Jack saw in her as there were bigger and stronger kids in the playground on that day. It could be hatred, rage, or maybe anger, she wasn’t sure. In the end, she was glad that he’d chosen her. As a way to show her appreciation, the year when she turned eighteen, she decided to take his last name, Campbell. Now, Jane Campbell._

_At the age of twenty, Jack had nothing left to teach her. And in that same year, Jane stepped in, took over his captain role of the strike team - a team composed of mercenaries either dishonorably discharged or specially trained for the job - after Jack passed away from cancer. Despite her gender, they followed her instructions with the same respect. As long as the money was good enough, they had no problem calling her Captain. And Ed Carson always pays his people handsomely to keep their loyalties._

_Jane pretty much grew up with the Carson family, as Jack would often take her to all the important meetings and missions to gain real-life experience. Field trips, he called them. So, every year on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Ed would invite her to the family dinner after Jack died._

_Ten years, that’s how long she had been working for them. Out of all enemies, she never once thought Paul Carson would want her dead. And she didn’t even see it coming._

Jane smiled bitterly. With the last adrenaline rush faded, she could feel her strength slipping away. She commanded herself to keep moving, one foot in front of the other, but she couldn’t move, it felt like she’d walked into a wall. A dead end. Strangely, the path ahead was clear, nothing was blocking her. She stopped walking, taking the chance to get some rest. But Jack’s voice spoke in her head.

 _Keep moving, Jane._ He said.

Jane listened, moving her foot to take another step, then gave up when she couldn’t go forward.

 _Jane, you can’t stop, you need to keep moving._ Jack Campbell spoke again, urgently.

 _I know, but I can’t!_ Jane shouted back in her mind and groaned.

The invisible wall felt so warm, so comfortable that she thought she was hallucinating, she wanted to close her eyes for a minute.

“Just one minute.” Jane murmured, she was so tired, so drained. Then Jack’s voice in her head faded into a whisper, and he disappeared when the wall began to move away from her. She felt her whole world turned upside down as she reached out to grab a hold of him.

“No, don’t leave me. Come back,” Jane called out to Jack Campbell, “please, don’t leave me...”

Then, the black void suddenly consumed her.


	2. The Trio

Staring down at the fallen body, Gahtan checked the unconscious yautja male. Then he struck the back of his hand across the male’s face, hard enough to wake him up after he had finished his work. When his amber eyes fluttered open to consciousness, Gahtan’s clawed hand choked him by the neck.

“Where is it?” Gahtan asked threateningly.

Consciousness came back grudgingly to Ra’toth as he opened his eyes, he saw the green hunter landed on top of him with his knee driving into his chest, as well as a hand on his throat, pinning him in place. He struggled madly in a futile effort to get up, but it only made his hold on him grew stronger. Ra’toth hissed at him, tusks tightening.

“Tell me where it is.” Gahtan asked again while applying more pressure to his knee to inflict maximum pain on the yautja male.

“Never.” Ra’toth finally croaked out, preparing for his impending death.

“Very well. I will not deny you the chance of an honorable death, bad blood.” Knowing he would never get an answer out of him, Gahtan released his hand then moved away, retrieving his glaive that he’d dropped during their earlier fight. He made sure he turned his back to the bad blood long enough for him to get back up.

Like he’d expected, Ra’toth sprang to his feet the moment Gahtan turned his back to him, moving so quickly that everything around him become a blur. Ra’toth slammed his body into the green hunter from behind, the impact of his sudden attack knocking the wind from his lungs and leaving Gahtan on the ground.

Caught completely off guard by the sneak attack. Gahtan was now reaching for the nearby glaive, he only had enough time to bring his weapon up before Ra’toth yanked it out from his grasp. Gahtan shifted aside when Ra’toth swung the glaive at him, it nearly missed his throat, but the blade still made a contact with his upper arm. For a second, Gahtan was bleeding profusely.

Taking advantage of the initial shock of the unexpected attack, Ra’toth charged at him again, this time Gahtan managed to block the attack with a good arm. They grappled at close quarters briefly, then Ra’toth suddenly gripped his hand on Gahtan’s wound, causing him to growl in pain. He headbutted the green hunter again and again, disorienting his senses until his bio-mask came off. Gahtan cursed as they fought to gain leverage, he staggered backwards, shook his head to regain focus. Ra’toth seized the opportunity, attacking him with a flying tackle, knocked them both on the ground, but Ra’toth was on top of him, giving him advantage to bring the weapon up.

Gahtan managed to get him in an elbow lock, pinning his opponent in place so he couldn’t raise the weapon. He took the chance to apply more pressure to the arm, bending it until the bad blood’s arm snapped at an awkward angle.

Screaming in pain, Ra’toth dropped the glaive and punched Gahtan with an unharmed hand until he released his tight grip on him. Once he was free, Ra’toth leapt away from Gahtan and engaged his cloaking as he raced into the woods. Luckily, he was able to escape.

Gahtan watched him disappeared with a grunt, he made no attempt to pursuit the bad blood. His task was already completed - the bad blood had escaped - all he had to do was wait. Picking up his glaive and bio-mask from the ground, he cloaked and disappeared into the night, silently leaving the place like nothing had happened here. Though he hoped his act was convincing enough, Gahtan thought.

When his opponent was unconscious earlier, Gahtan made sure the bad blood had swallowed the tracking device that he had prepared for him. The outer casing of the device would protect itself from stomach acid, if Gahtan releases the casing, then the tracking device would be dissolved within twelve hours and ultimately be flushed out through his digestive system without a trace. But that’s not going to happen until Gahtan had learned the location of his clan.

The bad blood clan, Blood Talonswas nothing if not ruthless. Their clan leader showed no quarters to their enemies, especially traitors. He knew that bad blood would rather die than revealing its clan location to anyone. He had to swallow his pride and let the bad blood escape for now. Secretly planting a tracking device was the only way he could get the information he wanted. And that bad blood would eventually lead him to it.

In fact, he was counting on it.

Gahtan activated the gauntlet until a holo-map projected above, the blinking red dot indicated the bad blood was still moving. Satisfied, he decided to head back to his ship and wait.

Checking the wound on his arm, he huffed in exasperation. This was the third time he got himself injured because of that ooman female, Ray - also Bau’jah’s ooman mate - Cursing, he let out a displeased grunt.

When Bau’jah - his hunting brother - bonded with that ooman, he had decided to discontinue their annual hunt as he focused entirely on finding a cure to prolong his mate’s lifespan. Thanks to that ooman, Gahtan rarely got to speak to his hunting brother nowadays. Not that his life was affected in any way, considering he’d spent most of his adulthood life hunting alone.

However, he’d thought their annual hunt was different. After all, it was a tradition they had established long ago, and it had lasted for centuries. But Gahtan was wrong, not only did Bau’jah abandon their tradition for a mere ooman, his hunt had also suffered and dwindled greatly. That ooman female was definitely a bad influence on his hunting brother, Gahtan concluded.

So, after years of Bau’jah’s incommunicado. Gahtan was, to put it mildly, more than surprised to hear from his hunting brother. Bau’jah asked him to meet at the location he had provided in the message without any other details revealed. Gahtan, of course, cleared his schedule to meet him as agreed. He honestly was excited to meet him as he was under the impression of a joint hunt. Both were elites, Bau’jah was actually one of the few hunters that could compete with him in their clan. And there was nothing more thrilling than a hunt. Particularly a challenged hunt with a strong competitor to prove one’s strength and worthiness over another. This combative nature was deeply ingrained into his brain.

He was a hunter. He lived for the chase. It was what defined him, his entire race.

Imagine how disappointed he was when Bau’jah told him otherwise. He had cleared his entire schedule, traveled this far to come out here to meet him, and all Bau’jah wanted from him was information?! Gahtan thought he’d misheard him. He almost choked on his c’ntlip.

_“Do I look like a walking yautja archive to you? Find it yourself.” Gahtan retorted._

_“I tried, this abandoned asteroid rock was their last-known location, all clues ended here. I need a second set of eyes to check if I missed anything before an Arbitrator comes back and destroys this rock as scheduled.” Bau’jah replied. He knew Gahtan was good at collecting information._

_“Why? Risks aside, why do you wish to have a weak offspring?” Gahtan asked._

_There was a brief pause before Bau’jah answered firmly. “To her, family is everything. She wants to have a child with me, a family of our own. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my mate.”_

_“That’s your business, not mine. Good luck with your breeding.” Gahtan turned to walk away._

_“I need you to find out their location, that’s all I required. You owe me that much.” Bau’jah stopped him._

_“I owe you?” Gahtan whipped around to face him, “now you are talking nonsense.”_

_“You told me to court her with flowers, remember? You almost killed my mate. However, I’m willing to let this matter go away if you help me with this.” Bau’jah explained to him about what happened._

_C’jit! Gahtan cursed. How the pauk did he know the ooman was allergic to her own homeworld plants? Not only a weak ooman. Apparently a defective one as well._

_“This isn’t an ordinary help you’re asking, the rumor could be false. Are you sure this is what you want?” Gahtan questioned him, though his tone wasn’t a flat refusal anymore._

_“Positive. If there’s even a slight chance, I will risk it for her. Find the location, but keep it between us, no-one can know about this.” Bau’jah emphasized._

_“I’m not a foolish young blood. This isn’t a type of news to spread around.” Gahtan said with a snort. Finishing his last sip of the c’ntlip._

_Surveying the abandoned asteroid rock, Gahtan searched for possible clues. This lifeless rock was clearly hollowed out to its maximum capacity. On the outside, it appeared to be an ordinary rock, however, the inside was a fully equipped facility in the cavern of a mined asteroid. The ingenious way the Blood Talons clan did to keep their location secret and away from prying eyes, it was actually quite impressive. Well...until the Arbitrators had discovered it._

_Gahtan brought up the schematics of the asteroid from his gauntlet as he scanned through the public data archives that Arbitrators had gathered. Nothing was new in those files, of course. Most of the bad bloods had escaped during the raid, a few of them got captured were all dead. And they made sure they destroyed whatever projects they were working on, along with the equipments when they fled. There wasn’t much useful information as to where they might go next. If he could figure out what Blood Talons clan wanted, he could anticipate their next move._

_He resumed his search again, scouring the place looking for possible clues or leads. But there was nothing, the Arbitrators probably had the place swept clean. If they didn’t find anything, then there was a slim chance that he would._

_Gahtan walked around the deserted facility as he pondered - supplies, sleeping cabins, empty containment jars and pods designed to hold various species, operating tables, incinerator, even holding cells - then a sudden glint of metal caught his eyes. Gahtan crouched down and uncovered the object that was buried under the rubble, he looked at the thing in his hand, feeling well-pleased. The bad bloods didn’t destroy everything after all. To his kind, this was just a piece of useless metal, but Gahtan knew it had sentimental value to oomans, they called it necklace. He had seen it many times during his hunting trips on earth._

_Gahtan thought back on the archives, trying to cross-reference everything he knew with the data as he inspected those files again. The DNA modification part was intentionally omitted in the public archives, as the Arbitrators were trying to suppress the story due to the lack of real evidence, but despite the Arbitrators’ effort, there were still rumors about Blood Talons clan conducting genetic experimentations on oomans and other species._

_And from what he just discovered, part of that rumor might be true - Bau’jah was probably right. Now he had to find out their location for him. How unfortunate for me, Gahtan thought - ooman was one of their experimentations, that much was clear. But how far they’d gone, nobody really knew for sure, not even the Arbitrators. And with the bad bloods’ secret lab destroyed, they would need to finish what they had started._

_The answer hit him with full force. Gahtan checked the data again, the asteroid was raided not long ago, enough of time for Blood Talons to find another location, then they would need to acquire new experimental subjects soon. Leaping to his feet, Gahtan walked back to his ship._

_“Fortunately for you, the rumor may be true after all. I will contact you when I have the information.” He said to Bau’jah and left._

_Earth was close from Gahtan’s current location, he immediately plotted a course with maximum speed. It didn’t take him long to get there, but it did take him a while to detect another yautja designed ship, their unique cloaking device made it harder for his sensors to pick up the masked, dissipating ion trails, but not impossible. Shortly, Gahtan landed his ship, keeping the distance far away from the other one._

_I was right, Gahtan said to himself, pleased with his discovery. Their clan markings further confirmed his suspicion as he watched three bad bloods in the shadows._

_For days, he had been observing all three of them picking and selecting oomans, then moving the unconscious bodies to their ship. They obviously had particular types: ooman twins, left-handed oomans, oomans with polydactylism, oomans with albinism and autism, or heterochromia. But he was glad there were no children involved._

_While Gahtan was patiently waiting, his mind was racing through ideas. Killing them wasn’t an option as he needed them to tell him their clan location, and he doubted he could fight off three bad bloods at the same time without getting severely injured or killed. So, violence was out. Tailing their ship for a short time was feasible, but eventually they’d discover him. Gahtan had no doubt that they’d scan for any suspicious activity before they even reached their clan._

_Just as Gahtan was struggling to come up with a plan in the grim situation, he saw one of the bad bloods leaving the ship alone. He followed him, keeping a safe distance behind. An hour later, the bad blood stopped, secretly watching a group of armed oomans near the abandoned warehouse. Gahtan quickly realized this one came out to hunt. Bad blood or not, the instincts to hunt were deeply ingrained in their kind, that would never change. Then a hastily formed plan suddenly took shape._

_Gahtan first drew the bad blood’s attention, leading him further into the woods and away from oomans. Luckily, it was at night, the place was remote. And his plan had worked._

* * * * * *

Ra’toth cradled his broken arm as he made his way quickly towards the ship, he was relieved to see the green hunter did not follow him. Upon reaching the entrance of the ship, he punched in the code on the access panel with a good arm and stepped inside. He saw his clan brothers - Tagan and Noh’ka - were standing not far from the doorway, they looked extremely displeased.

“Where have you been, brother?” Tagan the second oldest male in the group, asked icily while eyeing his injured arm with suspicion.

Ra’toth told them and explained everything. After days of capturing ooman preys, his cravings for hunt only increased, so he decided to make a quick kill then come back before they embark on the next task. Except, there was another hunter.

“You imbecile! You’ve exposed us all!” Noh’ka the leader, also the oldest of the three, exclaimed, “our instructions are simple, we complete the mission and go back, we are not here to hunt.”

“You said he wants information from you, what kind of information?” Tagan interjected in concerns. He needed to know if their mission had been compromised.

“He wanted to know our clan location. But I said nothing. He was going to kill me when I refused to betray my clan brothers.” Ra’toth replied. He maybe the youngest but not the stupidest, he knew what would happen to him if he revealed their clan location to anyone. Their clan leader’s reputation was well-known. Death would have been an easy way out.

“He is an Arbitrator?” Noh’ka asked grimly, both were looking at Ra’toth for answers.

“No, he’s not an Arbitrator, otherwise I’d be dead. I believe it was sheer coincidence that he found me. For all I know, he could be a mere hunter trying to make a name for himself to impress his clan. I even managed to wound him during my escape. He was careless.” Ra’toth replied, feeling a bit proud for his shrewdness.

“Whoever he is, we don’t have much time. We must act quickly now, this mission is our priority.” Tagan said with a clear head whilst looking at their team leader for approval. Their youngest brother maybe impulsive, but this wasn’t the time for his punishment, the mission comes first. Their clan leader would not tolerate another failure in such short time.

Ra’toth lowered his head in submission and continued: “My apologies, brothers. This will not happen again.”

“It’d better not. You just moved our schedule ahead. Get your pauking arm fixed, we must complete this mission as soon as possible.” Noh’ka ordered, eventually agreed to focus on their mission for now. As for the indiscreet conduct, it would be dealt with later. Until then, nothing else mattered.

A few moments later, three of them armed and exited the ship. Disappearing into the night with the easy grace of predators on the prowl.

* * * * * *

Lifting his left arm, Gahtan examined the wound, it wasn’t deep. He simply dismissed it after the bleeding had stopped. Looking at the familiar greenery around him, it suddenly brought back unpleasant memories. He hadn’t been on earth for many years. The last time he had been here he was ordered by the clan leader to return Bau’jah’s ooman to her homeworld.

After his sojourn on earth - mostly due to the unpleasant acquaintance with that ooman - Gahtan vowed he’d never return to earth again. And yet, here he was. Standing on earth, again!

C’jit, C’jit, C’jit!

He still couldn’t fathom what Bau’jah saw in that female, or how that female enchanted Bau’jah. Didn’t Bau’jah know how risky this was?

Borderline code breaking!

Gahtan was certain that he knew it but still didn’t care. Like he had said, that ooman female was a bad luck. The further away from her, the better. But that was a bit too late, considering Bau’jah had already dragged him into this, despite his unwillingness.

Bau’jah was an idiot. And now he was helping his idiotic brother and his ooman mate.

C’jit!

Snapping out of his trance, Gahtan brought up the holo-map from his gauntlet again as he wound his way through the woods. He wasn’t far from his ship now, and the bad blood showed no sign of stopping, either. Since the tracking device was in place, all he had to do was monitor the status from his ship, it would minimize his chance of being discovered by them.

Gahtan had just finished checking the map about which was the closest way to take to get back his ship, and he felt something hit him in the back. Instantly, his senses entered a state of hyperawareness. He whipped around, his right arm raised with extended writsblades at the ready. However, the threat was quickly deemed as irrelevant by him. Instead, he cocked his head aside with a look of both confusion and shock.

It was a ooman trying to pass him.

 _Are you pauking blind?_ Gahtan shouted in his head. Watching the ooman bumping into his body again and again.

Then Gahtan realized he was cloaked. He remained unmoved, waiting for the ooman to go around him. But after seeing the ooman made no such attempt, he shook his head in annoyance, decided to move out of its way. To his surprise, the ooman grabbed him, and even begged him not to leave.

 _C’jit, the ooman can see me?_ He cursed in disbelief. Lowering his head, he saw the body of the ooman leaning steadily against him, motionless. It appeared to be sleeping.

_How dare you, ooman!_

Growling, Gahtan impatiently grasped the ooman by the collar. Up close, he was even more shocked to see it was covered in blood, the scent was so strong it assaulted his olfactory senses. C’jit, not only did he neglect the blood scent, he also failed to notice the ooman walking behind him when he was absorbed in deep thought earlier. He was lucky it was only a ooman, if it were a bad blood, he would be severely injured or even be dead by now. Gahtan chastised himself for his reckless behavior.

Returning his attention, he released his tight grip on the ooman testily, watching the limp body slumped forward, crashing into him like a marionette with its strings cut off. He then realized it wasn’t asleep. It was, in fact, unconscious. The ooman was dying. Gahtan snorted with pity, decided to leave the ooman to its own fate.

Try as he might, Gahtan noticed the ooman’s hand was still clutching on to him tightly. If the ooman wasn’t dying, he’d probably kill the soft meat himself for getting this close to him. Annoyed, he tried to pry the ooman’s fingers from his netting when he heard more oomans were heading to his way. And from their shouting, they were clearly after this particular ooman who somehow managed to stumble into him. C’jit!

Even though Gahtan was cloaked, but the ooman was not, and it was holding onto him! He supposed he could walk away, letting them kill the unconscious ooman, or he could kill all of them and leave the ooman here to die on its own.

Either way, this ooman dies. No doubt about it. Gahtan glanced at the ooman as his bio-mask scanned the vital signs. Its pulse became very faint.

 _Leave it, you’ve got enough problems right now._ Gahtan said to himself.

Exactly, serious problems that might break the honor code for getting involved with bad bloods. He looked at the unconscious ooman again and ruminated.

 _Not this time._ He would preserve his honor by saving the wounded ooman who was clearly incapable of defending itself and outnumbered. Decided, Gahtan held the unconscious ooman in one of his arms and disappeared into the dark, heading for his ship.

The faster he ran, the more weaker the ooman had become, he could barely hear its breathing. Fortunately, his ship wasn’t far. Once he was inside the ship, Gahtan made his way quickly to the stasis pod. He lowered the unconscious body on to the floor and began to strip its blood-stained outfit. He was shocked to see it was a female after its top was removed.

C’jit, no wonder the ooman felt so small and soft.

Back to his task, Gahtan continued to remove the remaining of her clothes until she was completely naked. The sight of the nude female covered in blood surprised him. Over the centuries, Gahtan had seen thousands, if not millions, of dead bodies, many of them slain by his own hand. But it was rare to see a badly injured ooman female considering he had never hunted one, as their male counterparts were physically stronger and were better suited for hunting. Scanning with his bio-mask again, the grievous injuries she sustained were not just gunshot wounds and broken rips, there was also a head injury. She had lost a lot of blood. She was running out of time.

Gahtan hoisted the limp body up with ease by placing both hands under the ooman’s underarms. He then placed her inside the stasis pod and locked the door. After a few clicks on the diamond-glass lid, sprays of mists spewed out and clear gel substance immersed her entirely in a matter of seconds. The mist sprays would send the female into a state of virtual hibernation, the medically induced coma would maintain her vital systems and preserve internal organs, in the interim allowing the biochemical compounds to repair her damaged tissues and cells. But it would require time.

Looking down at the mess on the floor, Gahtan picked up the ragged clothes and set the ship’s systems to purge the ooman blood upon exiting the room. He also synchronized the tracking device with his ship’s systems to alert him if the target was moving out of range, or out of planet’s orbit.

After everything was set, Gahtan removed his armor in the weapons room, cleaning and polishing each piece, then placed them in the hidden draw methodically. At last, he retired to his bedchamber.

Lying down, Gahtan stared at the ceiling and contemplated his next move. There was nothing he could do at this moment but wait. To his credit, he had successfully found the trio and even planted a tracker on one of them, everything went exceedingly well like he had planned so far.

 _Except the ooman._ Gahtan thought. But the female would wake up within days, or maybe sooner.

And when she does, he would get her out of his ship.

Gladly.

Until then, he would wait.


	3. I, E.T.

She was dead. Of that much she was sure.

But what she less sure of was why she still felt the twitching in her muscles.

Jane finally opened her eyes, she found herself confined in a flooded capsule and she was drowning. Her first instinct to shout for help was immediately suppressed by her quick reflexes. Instead of feeling terrified, years of training had taught her to master her surroundings first. Holding her last breath, she pounded on the glass door with both fists, harder and harder each time. When she realized the door was unbreakable, Jane checked her strange confinement, looking frantically for a possible way out.

Cloaked. Gahtan stood silently before the stasis pod, he crossed his arms on the chest, watching the ooman female pounding inside the pod madly, struggled to get out. He decided to wait as he wondered how long it would take for her to pass out from holding her breath. It’d be interesting to see.

 _Just breathe, ooman._ He thought, and from the smug look on his face, it was obvious that he was beginning to enjoy this. It was, in fact, a nice little distraction for him right now. Monitoring the bad blood on his ship for two days had been extremely tedious.

Her hands checked every surface, looking for a hidden trigger or a button to open the door, but from what she could see, either the door wasn’t designed to open from inside, or she didn’t have access. She was trapped in here. Feeling frustrated, Jane banged on the glass again. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, her brain was screaming for oxygen. Unable to hold her breath any longer, Jane released the remaining air in her lungs, continued to hold her breath until she was almost passed out due to lack of oxygen. Subliminally, Jane opened her mouth to breathe in deeply, she knew she wouldn’t make it.

 _You are going to die for real this time._ Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Epitaph: Jane Campbell, age 30. Cause of death: drowning.

Then Jane realized that drowning sensation which she was expecting, it never came. Instead she felt cool air filling her lungs again when she breathed, which made her questioning her sanity.To make sure she wasn’t hallucinating, she inhaled again tentatively and slowly. This time, Jane was certain that she was indeed breathing in the liquid. Amazed, she breathed out through her mouth once again, watched the liquid flowing around her - it was some type of gel compound upon closer examination - The sensation of the gel felt foreign. She had never seen such technology like this before. But now wasn’t the time to delve into science.

Feeling both dumbstruck and relieved, Jane adjusted her breathing and quickly pulled herself together. Beyond the clear glass door, it was a room that looked sterile: gunmetal grey all around, thin strips of bright light inlaid in the walls were the only source of illumination. She didn’t know how she ended up in here, but she needed to get out first.

No longer worried about drowning, Jane concentrated on her escape, kicking and banging on the door again and again, determined to break the only thing that kept her from the outside world.

To him, the face of the ooman female after she realized she could breath in the compound was priceless. _So primitive._ Gahtan’s expression was contemptuous and amused in equal measure. The ooman was alive and kicking again. He’d like to enjoy this distraction a bit longer if the constant banging noise reverberating around the room hadn’t ruined his mood. That was the end of his short entertainment, he supposed.

Gahtan finally walked over to the stasis pod, his clawed fingers pressed on the haptic glass lid a few times and stepped aside as the door slid open upon his command. The female dropped to the ground, as good as a newborn suckling. He stood there, still cloaked. Waiting for the ooman to recover from the aftereffects of the healing gel.

Jane felt her limbs sore from hitting on the glass door over and over. But the damn door didn’t even budge, she doubted she could break it open with bare hands even if she tried for hours on end. For a moment, she didn’t know what else she could do. Then all of a sudden, the door opened. Whether from her constant banging or it was programmed to open by a timer, she couldn’t say. Nor she cared. She just wanted to get out of this cage.

Her body fell to the ground, hard. Coughing and puking her guts out while bringing up more of the gel from her lungs, until she was able to breathe in fresh air once again. The gel compound dissolved to nothing upon contact with air. When Jane was done coughing, she took a minute to catch her breath.

Five minutes later, she was up and in a state of hyperalert after all her senses had returned to normal. The feeling of the cool air on her bare skin made her realize she was standing naked. And it dawned on her that all her injuries had been miraculously healed. Including her concussion. There wasn’t even a scratch or a scar on her body. Shocked, she moved her arms, shook her legs. No pain, like the injuries had never existed. Jane looked back at the pod which was holding her captive, it must had healed her wounds when she was unconscious in there.

_But how? How long have I been out? And who took me here? Was it Paul?_

The thought of Paul Carson brought back her memory: his betrayal, her dead teammates. It couldn’t be him.

 _Then who?_ There were so many unanswered questions swirling in her head right now.

But first, get dressed.

Jane quickly checked the room and to her relief, she found her clothes lay in a heap on the floor. Her briefs, sports bra, cargo pants, T-shirt, tactical boots and socks, all there and clean. The bullet holes in the clothes reminded her of what had happened as flashbacks of that night returned again, Jane shook her head to dispel the disturbing memory. Now wasn’t the time to let personal grudge get in the way, she needed to find out where she was and come up with a plan later.

After fully clothed, she turned her attention to the door. To her surprise, it wasn’t locked, the door slid open automatically when she got close enough. The room seemed unguarded. But she was still wary.

Stepping out, the rest of the place looked identical: same gunmetal grey color, same lighting embedded along the sleek, metal walls. But strange layout. It looked sterile, cold and efficient. There was something odd about the interior design, too. Very odd. To her, it felt like it shouldn’t exist or belong in this world. It felt...alien, yet somewhat pleasing to her eyes. The feeling of which was hard to describe. Standing amid the strange surroundings, Jane touched the bright, vibrant light embedded in the wall, it felt cool and sleek. She couldn’t help but to wonder as she proceeded slowly along the corridor.

When she was certain there was no imminent danger at the moment, she started to search for a weapon. Jane didn’t like being unarmed, especially in a place she didn’t know, so she let her instincts to guide her way through the facility as she searched aimlessly. The place looked big and empty though, she doubted she could even find a butter knife here. On second thought, a butter knife would be her wish come true. There wasn’t even a window here.

_Where the fuck am I?_

Unseen, Gahtan observed the ooman female and followed her whilst hoping she could just move a few more steps ahead, turn to the left. Then she would see the entrance of his ship: unlocked and open, waiting for her to get the pauk out of here.

 _Keep going, it’s right there, ooman._

But wait, where was she going? Why the pauk did she turn back, heading opposite way to his observatory? _C’jit._ Gahtan gave a growl of frustration as he rubbed his temples. He had enough of this. He wasn’t going to let the ooman have a grand tour on his ship. Gahtan wheeled around, quickly catching up with the female and grabbed her arm before she could go any further. He ignored her struggle, kept on dragging her to the doorway effortlessly.

“What the f—” Jane was taken aback when a sudden strong force descended upon her. She watched herself being dragged away by an unseen force in confusion. The very first thought came to her mind was some unexplainable supernatural phenomenon at work. Acting on pure survival instinct, she fought and wrestled to get free, but all her efforts were in vain as Jane was unable to establish a firm footing on the ground. But in the middle of her struggle, she felt her fist landed on something solid like a wall, she hit it again and her punch made another hard contact, which made the logical part of her brain begin to think. _Wait a second, it’s not a ghost, you can’t hit a ghost._ The man was hiding himself, she realized.

Working for an arms dealer also meant Jane got to see a lot of advanced weapons first hand that weren’t even available to the public market. Aside from mass destructive weapons, stealth technology was also in high demand, that includes invisibility cloaking tech which was still underway, she had seen it before. But the cloaking wouldn’t work if your enemy was this physically close. Had they eliminated the defect and improved it to perfection? So far, that was the only plausible explanation she could go with right now. She still couldn’t see who it was, but at least she was able to find her bearings.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” Jane asked in a defiant voice, tugging her arm with frustrating grunts.

There was no reply. After a few moments of silence, the tight grip on her arm hurled her body to the floor harshly.

Fuming with rage, Jane immediately got back onto her feet. “You fucking coward! Where are you? Show yourself if you want to kill —”

The rest of the words died in her mouth as Jane looked all directions, searching for the invisible adversary in a state of hypervigilance. And the sight of the open doorway in front of her had Jane questioning herself whether or not this was another trick, or setup. But the sound of the trees rustling in the gentle breeze, blowing across the green plants seemed unquestionably real to her. It must be one hell of a holo-projector if this wasn’t real.

Jane wasn’t far from the door, which she found it too good to be true. _Cured me and let me go? For what?_ Albeit excited for her freedom, she was still leery. Jane checked behind her, around her, making sure the invisible guy wasn’t going to shoot her in the back the moment she stepped out. However, what she didn’t expect was a sudden push on her back, almost knocked her to the floor again. Now, this whole thing began to feel like a carnivore toying with his prey before the real torture.

“Are you enjoying this?” Jane barked behind her. This time a distorted, transparent silhouette was visible under the sunlight for a mere second, which had caught her eyes. Then she lost sight of it.

“Leave.” Gahtan spoke in her native tongue, which he found it was equally strange and equally annoying. He had showed her the way out, what was the female waiting for?

The deep, guttural voice sounded animalistic, which struck her as odd. In fact, everything didn’t make sense to her since she woke up. First, her injuries had been completely healed, then she was being pushed and pulled by an invisible man in some type of a weird facility, which she had no idea where she was. He hadn’t killed her nor demanded a ransom for her release yet. And now, he was willing to let her go just like that? What was she missing here?

“You are not going to kill me?” Jane asked in disbelief. She had thought he worked for Paul Carson, maybe she was wrong, lady luck was finally on her side today?

“No.” There was a brief pause to make sure the female had heard him clearly. “Leave. Now.” Gahtan spoke again. Impatiently.

There was this distrust growing inside her now, this stranger had saved her, indeed. Although his purpose was unclear, she doubted he would divulge any information to her as his identity still remained in secrecy. Puzzled by all of this, Jane started to move towards the doorway hesitantly while her mind was racing. Each decision from this moment on was carefully calculated in her head. She kept staring at the view outside, then she stopped.

There was one problem. A deadly one.

Jane Campbell was still alive.

That meant Paul Carson would hunt her down, no doubt he had already launched a manhunt for her, with full support teams provided by his new partners. Monitoring all CCTV, gas stations, transport routes, streets, highways, and all surrounding areas. Which was unlikely that she’d survive for two days on her own. Three days, if she was lucky. Her safe houses, the cabin, money, all compromised now. Heck, Paul was the one who provided all that financial support, he knew everything about her. The nature of this life also limited her connections with outside world. The normal, mundane life where no killing was involved. She didn’t even have friends to ask for help. The only people she considered as family either dead or wanted to kill her. There was only one outcome to this.

Her guaranteed death.

At the end of the road, she had two choices left: walk out of here and Paul would capture her, then kill her; or stay here, the invisible man would probably kill her.

Fuck, to her dismay, death was inevitable.

Leaving here would just prolong the inevitability of her death. That was certain. But if she stayed, there was a possibility that the invisible man might not kill her. Otherwise, why the heck did he save her life in the beginning if he wanted her dead all along? Besides, he did say he wasn’t going to kill her. It was risky but she couldn’t say for certain, was she willing to bet her life on it?

 _It would make sense if this was all part of a sadistic torture game from start. Building up your expectations, false leading you, letting you have a taste of freedom, only then to crush that hope when you realize you are being hunted down by a phantom._

Shit, that was some sick, twisted mind of an individual. Jane shook that dark thought away, but not dismissing it entirely. Then again, dying now or later, did it matter to her? What did she got to lose anyway? A small chance was better than no chance and she would be a fool not to take it.

Damn it, that fancy cloaking device alone was worth of everything. She really needed one of those right now.

Finally, Jane turned around and found her voice fast. “What if I decide to stay here? Will you let me stay?”

For a second, Gahtan couldn’t believe what he just heard. Did the ooman really think he was giving her options to choose? Instantly, his clawed hand grasped the collar of her V-neck shirt, lifting her body up against the wall with inhuman strength, threatening her that this wasn’t up for debate.

“Get. Out.” He let out a ferocious growl.

Jane was in shock, this man just lifted her up like she were a feather. Her feet were now dangling in midair as she tried to breathe in and out, his sharp nails torn the fabric of her shirt. _You really need a manicure_.

Looked like he didn’t want her here, too bad. In a fleeting moment, she decided to go the whole hog. Forcing herself to stop thrashing, she acted as nonchalantly as possible.

“Go ahead and kill me,” she squeezed out, “there are powerful people outside that door waiting to take my life, why do you think I got shot in the first place, huh? If I leave here, I’m dead either way.”

After a moment of rapid clicks and guttural growls, Jane didn’t get a reply like she’d expected. Then she saw herself moving in mid-air to the doorway. Fuck. He was going to throw her out. Jane reacted immediately, locking her legs around him where she assumed his waist was to support her body, she grasped his arm which was holding her shirt, struggled to take him down with a flying armbar, but her momentum wasn’t strong enough. Change tactics. She aimed for his shin to knock him off balance, instead she felt more like she had hit herself on a tree trunk. Frustrating, she used the last ace up her sleeve. She slipped out of her shirt to go behind his back, locked her legs over his waist, and arms on his shoulders. _Jesus fucking Christ, what did you eat to get this big and tall?_ She did her best to hold onto him. There was no way he could get all four of her limbs off of him simultaneously now, unless he had four hands.

Grinning, Jane spoke behind him, next to his ear. “I told you that I’d be dead if I leave here, which I’m not lying. I need your help. Or you can kill me right now, I don’t care. But I am not leaving.”

 _Fuck!_ Cursing, Jane suddenly realized just how much she underestimated him. He grasped her hands, pulling so hard that she had to let go of him in order not to dislocate her arms. He peeled her body off of his back with his brutal strength then threw her across the floor. Just like that. Shit!

Jane groaned in pain and was able to ran back inside the facility to avoid physical contact with him. She spoke to the air again, moving strategically since she couldn’t see him, hoping to find his soft spot. “Why did you save me then? You could’ve left me there to die, but you didn’t. Please, I really need your help. I promise I will be gone in a few days when they stopped searching for me.” _That’s not going to happen in the next couple months. At least._

“Are you really gonna let me die again after saving me?”

Gahtan was beyond annoyed by the ooman now. Furious, to be more precise, after hearing what she just said. She clearly was unaware of the situation, her problems were not his concern, she was a ooman. Catching up to her in seconds, he locked his hand around her waist to pick her up from the floor. And this time he made sure her protest was pointless.

Jane was so mad right now. She clenched her teeth and breathed fire through her nose, she pursed her lips in time before cursing him, that wouldn’t serve her purpose - perhaps a bit of satisfaction - but it would only enrage him and herself even more. In a desperate state, Jane fumbled and groped his cloaked body. When her hand felt something like a handle on his leg, she gripped it and pulled it out. _Jackpot!_

“Put me down, I’m being serious!” Jane shouted to him.

Gahtan looked at the dagger in her hand and somewhat feeling amused, was she going to kill him with that? Foolish ooman. He didn’t even need both hands to overpower her. This fight wouldn’t last long. Dropping her to the floor, he watched her scampered away from him and pressed her back to the wall. He patiently waited for the ooman to gather herself to launch the first attack. However, he wasn’t expecting _this_.

The moment after Jane got the dagger, she knew a direct confrontation was out of option, she had failed miserably on that one earlier. He was too strong, his cloaking device which only made it more impossible. Instead of fighting, she took a risk and brought the dagger to her neck.

“The only way you can get me out of here is over my dead body.” _I sincerely hope not._

Gahtan froze for a brief moment, was she going to kill herself? He had never seen a ooman taking its own life before. Conversely, their fear of death and danger served as stimuli, driving them to survive at all costs, by any means necessary. Except weak-minded oomans. But this one struck him nothing but weak, for a ooman of course.

 _The female is bluffing._ Gahtan realized. Then he crossed his arms and chuckled with amusement.

Jane clenched her teeth in rage upon hearing his derisive laugh, obviously not taking her threat seriously. Pressing the blade harder on her flesh, she felt it biting into her skin as thin lines of blood running down her neck. “I’m not bluffing!”

 _Go on. Let’s see if you can do this, ooman._ Gahtan remained unmoved.

Few moments later, no response. Jane knew she had to be more convincing than this, but if she was going to suffer, she wasn’t going to let him have it too easy, either. “If I die, I want you to know that it is you who forced me into _this._ You killed me. My blood is on your hands.”

Jane closed her eyes, took a deep breath as she braced herself mentally against the wall. Few seconds later, she opened her eyes again with a look of determination, tenacity and anger.

_This is going to hurt like hell, you cold-hearted bastard._

Raising the dagger, she aimed the blade to her flank. Hissing with pain, the blade pierced through her flash but had not puncture her organ yet, to make it look more dramatic, she let her body slid to the floor. Now, she would wait and see. If he heals her again, then she knew she had a chance; if not, well...the end wouldn’t be too pretty for her. But she’d find out soon enough.

_Come on. Bite. I’m betting my life on you here._

The amusement disappeared from Gahtan’s face upon seeing the resolutions in her eyes, which had told him that she weren’t bluffing, especially when she placed both hands on the dagger again to drive it deeper into her wound.

S _tubborn ooman, you are not blaming your death on me._

Uncloaking, he removed his bio-helmet and roared at her in anger. His sudden action successfully distracted her. From her face, he was certain that he’d scared the ooman. Good, that’s when her kind run away from him every time. Dropping his mask to the floor, Gahtan walked over to her. Very slowly.

Jane’s mind went completely blank at the sudden sight of _him_. She froze, staring at him with wide eyes and horror-stricken, temporarily forgot the dagger which was still lodged into her flesh.

Garbed in that shiny silver body armor, he looked monstrous, not just his looks and green skin, also his height and build. Geez, he must be well over eight feet tall. His forest green hide changed into a light yellow sand color on his chest and abdomen. But what shocked her most was his facial features, he had no nose, nor lips. His mouth was enclosed by four tusks which definitely were sharp enough to bite her hand off. Then her big eyes traveled to his sloped, broad forehead which connected to the black tendrils that were decorated with gold rings. Those thick, strong limbs alone would reduce her to a mush. He even had claws!

What the fuck was she looking at?

~~a) some wicked government experiment gone wrong. Freaky Frankenstein.~~

b) new species, an extraterrestrial.

c) or kindly ask him.

Scratching A off the list. That theory was too far-fetched. No way humankind was capable of accomplishing such feat, to create something like _this_ so far. A.I or a killer robot, yes. But not organic beings, not yet.

So, an E.T.?

Jane let out an insuppressible laugh at her deduction. The motion jarred the wound, reminding her of the dagger in her body. She groaned in pain again. But her intent eyes never left him. He was slowly walking to her direction, staring daggers at her with those penetrating green eyes!

Fuck, she could’ve been dead for hundreds of times if he wanted to. And yet, she was still breathing because he did not wish to kill her for some reason. Wait, hold that thought, she may not get to live that long now. He looked pissed, she doesn’t need to read an alien handbook to grasp that expression. Clearly, her guilt-shaming trick had worked on him. Well, it worked too well perhaps, which had her regretted and now she was worried that he might kick her out, then leave her to die this time. How could she know? This green monster was not what she had expected in her plan. And now there was no turning back for her.

If she ran away now, she’s dead anyway. If she could stay, could she convince him not to kill her? She needed to think another way out. She needed to play her card right from this moment forward if she wanted to survive through this day. _Get yourself together, Jane. Try asking nicely_.

Back to him.

“What are you?” Jane asked bluntly, moving herself back into the wall further.

Gahtan’s patience was gone by now, revealing himself to the ooman wasn’t what he wanted, he only did it because he didn’t want to play a part in her pointless death. He wanted her gone, not asking questions. Gahtan moved closer and lowered himself until he was at eye-level with her, without moving his eyes from her face, he grabbed the dagger, pulled it out of her body. Then placing it back to its sheath that was strapped around his shin. He gave her an intimidating growl before pointing a talon to the doorway.

Jane winced at the pain and bent forward with a hand pressed on the cut. The injury wasn’t life threatening, she had worse, but it still hurt. Curiously enough, she looked up to him once the pain subsided to a dull numb. They were close, so close that she noticed the black speckles on his green hide, and his hot breath on her face, it smelled musky, like the earthy forest. This kind of physical closeness with him suddenly made her feeling troubled. He looked menacing.

Her gaze followed his talon to the door, knowing what he meant by that. Needless to say that she’d be glad to stay far away from him if she had any other choice. But she had none. So, since he was the first one who hadn’t showed any interest in killing her, staying here was her only option for now. Even that meant shaking hands with this monster in front of her. And it was a good sign since he still didn’t want to kill her just by the way he tried to scare her off with his animalistic growl earlier. That would work on other people, but not on Jane Campbell. The things she’d seen when growing up; things she had done when working for Ed Carson. One would think she was the real devil here. Jane grinned inwardly and breathed in to calm herself.

“Can you help me with my wounds first, please?” In a second, Jane slipped into a _damsel in distress_ persona before looking up at him, trying to convince him with a puppy look.

A trick Maryann had taught her, a hidden ace up her sleeve, which had finally found its use today. No one could refuse and ignore her like this, especially when she switched in to a submissive role. Who wouldn’t want to help a weak, helpless girl?

But wait, why was he dragging her to the door again?

“Wait, I’m still bleeding here, can’t you see I’m hurt? I need few more days to recover.” Jane shouted as she wrestled to yank her arm free from his grip. “I can pay you, I have lots of money. Just tell me what you want and I will make it happen if you let me stay here.”

Revealing his true identity to her not only did not scare the ooman off, it somehow made her more persistent, which had made Gahtan’s blood boiling with anger. He had enough problems right now, the last thing he needed was dealing with a ooman. In hindsight, he regretted saving her now. Her shouting gave him a pounding headache.

In the midst of their push and pull, a sudden warning message chimed in, causing both of them to freeze and looked at the source. The sound wasn’t too loud but it was constantly ringing around them, refusing to be ignored.

“What is that? I think you better go check on it. It sounds urgent.” Saved by the bell, Jane was secretly praising to whatever Gods she could think of right now for her stroke of luck. A big leap considering she was an atheist.

Gahtan immediately identified the warning message, it was his tracker, the bad bloods were on the move, fast. He needed to keep the tracking device in range if he didn’t want to lose the signal for good. Surely he’d never get another chance like this no more.

“Leave. Your last chance.” He said to her in English, Gahtan released her before moving over to the console, then sat down in his pilot seat.

 _Like hell I will._ Jane watched him curiously, the annoying sounds finally stopped after he did a few clicks on the projected screen. She had seen holo demonstrations before, but not like this. Now, taking a closer look at the facility, she didn’t know what she was looking at. Soon, she heard the door closed behind her.

Looked like she finally got to stay here now? Good. It was a well-calculated risk.

Then the sound of the engines rumbling to life made her wonder again. She noticed the walls around her suddenly became transparent as she felt a faint jerk. She walked to the see-through windows and checked.

“Are we flying? To where?” She asked in shock and looked at him for answers, but he just ignored her. Obviously this wasn’t a secret facility like she’d thought.

“What is this place? Are we on a plane?” Jane demanded to know after she didn’t get a reply from him.

“Look, I’m grateful that you decided to let me stay, but can you at least tell me where we are going?” This time she wasn’t expecting an answer from him anymore.

As they kept ascending, Jane was amazed at how fast it had climbed to this altitude, into the clouds, above the clouds, and she noticed they were still climbing up. Then she gasped with wide eyes after seeing it cleared through the atmosphere.

This wasn’t a fucking plane. This was a spaceship. He really was an E.T.!

She witnessed the tiny blue planet moving further and further away from her, then disappeared out of her sight.

Her home!

“Oh my god! We are leaving earth???!!!”

 _You’ve got to be shitting me!_ Jane stood there. Dumbfounded.

What had she gotten herself into here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is late. Things are getting a bit hectic for me at the moment, the good news is i got promoted. So with me taking on the new leadership role and additional responsibilities in the upcoming Monday, my next update would take longer. But don’t worry, comrades. I’ve already got the whole plot developed in my head, i just need to find some time to write it down.


	4. Face-to-Face

The moment when Gahtan locked on the signal before the bad bloods had engaged the FTL, he programmed the ship to follow them within a safe distance behind, making sure he was completely shielded and undetectable by any long range scanners. With his destination unknown or how long he would be following them, he set the ship on auto-pilot mode.

Sooner or later, the bad bloods would lead him to their clan location. All he had to do was lie in wait, with a bit of patience, of course. Leaning back in his pilot seat, he stared at the screen and tried to relax. Though, he was acutely aware of the ooman female not far from him, of which urged him to limit her access to the ship. After security measure was in place, he looked at her as she stared back at him with mixed ooman emotions showing on her face, apparently waiting for answers like he was the one who was actually responsible for keeping her here. He had warned her. He had tried to get her out of his ship. But the stubborn ooman would not listen, not until it was too late that she finally realized what she had gotten herself into here. She had no one to blame but herself.

Rising from his seat, Gahtan said nothing to her. But he did gave her a death glare before he broke the eye contact and walked away to retrieve his bio-mask on the floor. Then he cloaked and disappeared.

C’jit, he had a ooman on his ship. He needed a moment to think, he needed a moment to be alone. Gahtan stormed out of the bridge as his mind kept thinking about that fact. How the pauk did it turned into this? It was supposed to be a simple intervention, fix her then release her. How pauking complicated was that? Instead, the whole thing went wrong. A complete debacle. This wasn’t what he had in mind at all. But again, he didn’t think he could anticipate this sudden change of outcome. The way that ooman female behaved after seeing his face made him scowl, she was incredibly calm, never in his life had he seen such a ooman remained so calm like she did. She wasn’t blind, of that much he was sure.

 _What the pauk is wrong with that female then?_

Just as he thought she was going to challenge him with his dagger in hand, finally giving him a proper reason to end this ridiculous game once and for all, she surprised him again. She was quite unpredictable from the oomans he had had encountered before. And thinking about it frustrated him greatly. To top it all off, the bad bloods just had to choose that particular time, on this particular day to make a move. It seemed like everyone was working against him today. Their ends wouldn’t be pleasant when he got what he needed from them.

Having himself tied up to this task, he was at a point of no return. The most favorable option in this instance was to wait until he acquired the Blood Talons’ hidden location first, then he could get her out of here with pleasure. Before that, he seemed to be stuck with her. Gahtan groaned again, the more he thought about this, the more agitated he grew as unpleasant memories of Bau’jah’s ooman mate resurfaced to the forefront of his mind again. Oomans were never fun to be kept around, unless hunting was involved.

This was going to be a dreadful journey, he hoped the bad bloods would reach their clan soon. If they do, he might even consider rewarding them with a swift, painless death for lessening his misfortune. And of course he didn’t forget to add his hunting brother on top of the list this time. The real cause of his misery. Damn Bau’jah for bringing all of this misfortune upon him. Gahtan wanted to punch his face so very badly. But a hologram would have to take his place right now.

With his hunting brother’s face picturing in mind, Gahtan initiated the training program and engaged.

For a good amount of time after the green alien disappeared. Jane stood there, feeling shocked, confused and appalled. How rude!

They left earth, now what? She asked herself since there wasn’t anyone else to answer her question. Surely he could take her back. He had to. She had unfinished business with Paul Carson.

But was he willing to help her to get back home again? Undoubtedly, he was pretty angry at her for what she did. She had to confess it was entirely her fault that she was in a situation like this. He did try to get her off the ship prior to departure. Though it was an error on her part, but she did what she had to in order to survive, there were extenuating circumstances. It was just one of those catch twenty-two situations: Leave, you die; Stay, say goodbye to your fucking homeworld.

At least, the latter option increased her survival rate. She was still alive. That was a good start. Now, she needed to be mindful of her behavior in front of the green alien from now on, she had already alienated him enough than it was necessary. Jane couldn’t afford to have him as her enemy right now. It was time to take another step forward: try to ease the tension between them. It seemed like the two of them were going to spend some quality time here. Together.

But for how long? She didn’t know.

Sighing, Jane glanced at the dark space outside. Surely, there was no greater mishap could have occurred for their strange encounter. She moved her gaze from the view, reconnected herself with the still silence around her. The feeling of which was out of place. Jane wanted to ask him if there was a place for her to rest, but since he was cloaked again and nowhere to be found, it was clear that he did not wish to be disturbed. She began to walk towards the rear of the ship where he had disappeared, searching for a place to lie down before she stumbled into a stunning spectacle that took her breath away.

The observatory.

In here, the 360-degree view of the deep space was magnificent, like she was floating within a bubble. Mesmerized, Jane gazed through the glass in awe as she lay down on the floor, carefully not to irritate her stab wound. The bleeding had stopped, but the incessant pain and burning sensation remained. Plus the exertion earlier sure didn’t help it, either. However, hypnotized by the breathtaking view around her, Jane felt like this was definitely a nice spot to rest and it didn’t take her long to fall into a deep sleep.

_Jane remembered quite clearly every word that Jack spoke to her on that day. Each one was branded on her heart. It was her purpose: To keep his power free from chaos and outside disturbance, Ed Carson had created a small team, allowing them free reign to employ ‘extreme measures’ in the name of order and obedience._

_“I want you to know that one day you will be working for this man, and I’m assigning you this first task: keep his son safe this week.” Jack Campbell said to Jane as she looked at Ed and Paul Carson._

_“Are you serious. Dad? I’m eighteen, I don’t need a little girl to protect me. Look at her, she’s just a kid! Give me someone else. Anyone but her.” Paul Carson shouted at Ed for this absurd arrangement. He could assign someone much stronger and more capable like Jack Campbell next to him, but not a fucking girl. His friends would definitely laugh at him to no ends._

_“I know I’m younger than you, but I’m not a kid.” Jane replied in her defense. Indeed, she was only fifteen, but she was confident that she could still kick his ass with ease._

_“I can knock her down with one hand. Why don’t you just kill me already and save our competitor some trouble, because I will be dead if you entrust her with my life.” Paul Carson ignored her, continued to vent his frustration to his father. He’d probably need to protect her instead._

_“Stop shouting, Paul.” Ed Carson looked at him with reproach. “It’s only temporary until I get this deal finalized. Before that, wherever you go, she goes. Jack has been training her, if he believes Jane is capable of keeping you safe, then I trust his judgement.” Ed added, “I need you to keep a low profile this week. This government contract is crucial to us, our competitor will try everything to get me back off from the deal, and I’d be damned if I’d let you ruin this for me.”_

_Jane heard Paul Carson ranting in rage as he left for the car. She followed him. She didn’t care what he said about her, she was only here to complete her task. Nothing more._

_“Your father said to keep a low profile.” Jane voiced out her disapproval next to Paul when he was about to get out of the car._

_“Shut up, Jane. It’s only a party. You can leave if you feel so insecure.” Paul grinned._

_Jane knew he was intransigent sometimes, just like her. She had no choice but to go with him. But she didn’t like this. They were too exposed here, the house was full of people. She could easily lose him from her sight._

_“Hey Paul, you’ve made it!” A young man walked up to him with cigarette in one hand and a glass in the other, but he frowned after seeing Jane.“Who is this kid? You’re a babysitter now?” He laughed._

_“Fuck no, she’s just a tagalong.” Paul replied with slight indignation. “Now where the fuck is my drink, Tim?”_

_The young man backed off, leading them both to the bar to get some booze. After they took a swig, Tim studied Jane curiously as she watched the crowd next to Paul._

_“I know I shouldn’t offer you this, kid. But do you wanna try it?” Tim offered his booze to her._

_“No, thank you. I’m on the job.” Jane looked away from the glass, resumed her watch duty._

_“Oh really?” Tim burst out laughing again, “what kind of job?”_

_Jane nodded her head at Paul, “he’s my job. I need to keep him safe.”_

_“Oh my fucking god, Paul. Did she just say she’s babysitting your ass tonight? Hahaha—” Tim’s laughter became more and more hysterical, his body bent forward. Way too many drinks for him tonight._

_Paul took a deep breath, dragged Jane out of the party with laughters ringing in his ears, “don’t you ever say that shit in front of the others again, is that clear?”_

_Jane didn’t reply, but she was glad that they left the party. Awkwardness and humiliation drove Paul mad, when he got home later that evening, he dialed Chloe’s number. Jane grabbed her gun under the cushion and got up from the couch where she used as her bed when someone else besides Paul entered the room, but Paul told her to get out. She refused to leave him unprotected, especially with an unknown woman. Then Jane gasped after seeing them removing their clothes. Indecent, kissing and groping. She froze for a minute and ran out of the room when Paul’s face looked up to smirk at her._

_She died. Heat crept up her neck, flooded her face. She couldn’t sleep that night._

_The next day, Jane demanded him to tell her beforehand if he’d have any guest coming over. Paul agreed and he’d been bringing home different girls each night. What an asshole._

_Jane left a bug in the bedroom in case of an emergency. In the next room, she tried to meditate but couldn’t. She then concentrated on re-assembling her guns. Well...she tried. The sound was invasive and penetrating. He was evil!_

_There was silence, finally. Jane inhaled, trying to focus again. At first she thought she was hearing echoes in her earpiece. A second later, she was sure she heard her name being called through a strained, raspy voice. Jane leapt to her feet and cursed herself as she looked at the disassembled pistols lying on the floor. She grabbed her knife instead and dashed to the bedroom._

_The naked woman was on top of him, crushing his windpipe with a knee as Paul struggled to keep the muzzle away from his head. It was now aimed to his temple and she was going to shoot him. Jane threw the knife at her arm and ran towards the bed, the woman screamed, the bullet grazed Paul’s forehead, causing him to bleed profusely, blood got into his eyes. It only took one minute for Jane to end the fight as everyone tended to underestimate her._

_The blond woman was now gasping for air on the floor with stab wounds in some of her major vessels. She would bleed out painfully if Paul hadn’t shot her in the head to end the suffering. Jane lifted her brow at him inquisitively and told him he should let her find out who ordered the hit on him before killing her._

_“That fucking bitch tried to kill me.” Paul said to her. Blinking away the blood from his eyes._

_“Maybe next time you’ll heed my advice.” Jane replied as she used a shirt to stop his bleeding, she was waiting for a retort but he just let her tend to his wound and didn’t say anything._

_“You should put some pants on. I’ll get someone to take care of the body.” She turned around with a flushed face, hearing Paul cursing again after realized his nudity._

_Ten minutes later, the help was here to dispose the dead body. Jack and Ed soon arrived home, too. Jack was disappointed after seeing Paul got hurt. None of it would happen if she did not leave his side like he’d instructed._

_“It’s not her fault, Jack. I...sort of...um. I kicked her out.” Paul sprang to her defence, feeling bad for pulling this dick move on her. Fuck, she made him feeling bad. Not many people could manage that. But his explanation seemed to make things worse for her as Jack asked her again._

_“He was with a woman. In bed.” Jane finally replied, face still flushed. She blamed Paul for this._

_“Oh.” Was all Jack said. He didn’t need to ask anymore. Jack just realized how fast she’d grown, she was a teenager now, not a kid no more._

_Paul had been surprisingly cooperative until the business deal came through. Then few days later, Maryann came to her life to guide her through puberty. In addition to her usual training, Jack would also bring Jane along to Ed’s many meetings, to hone her skills. Sometimes escorting Paul home of course. Before, Paul was always mad when seeing her waiting for him outside of the school. What he actually cared about was getting laughed at by his friends and classmates. They always made fun of her, the way she dressed - all that tactical attire just didn’t match her age. Fortunately, Paul never complained about her again after that day. To her it seemed like he just accepted it. He was still imperious but they’ve been getting along. Then there was the unexpected._

_As expected, Tim called her “commando” when she appeared. She ignored him as she got out from the back seat of the car. Normally, Paul would do nothing. But something changed him today._

_“For once, will you shut the fuck up and leave her alone, Tim?” Paul glared at him._

_“Chill out, Paul, she doesn’t mind. Since when have you cared? Don’t tell me that she’s grown on you. Geez, you need to find a real woman and get laid.” He said in a mocking tone._

_“You fucker!” Paul pushed him, “she’s part of family, so that’s my little sister you’re talking about. If I hear one more disrespectful word out of your filthy mouth again, I’ll have her beat your ass right here, or I’ll personally make sure my father pays your family a friendly visit.”_

_Tim shut up and was shocked, but not as shocked as Jane. It’s only been a year, she didn’t know that Paul actually considered her as family. Somewhere deep in her heart was touched, she never had a family, only Jack. And this sudden sense of belonging she felt was gratifying. Both of them didn’t feel the need to say anything. But a subtle smile did spread across her face as they both got in the car and left together._

_And everything shifted around Jane. Paul walked over to her, leaning closely with predatory eyes which were gleaming with danger. Entrapped, her body froze. She couldn’t move._

_“Of all people, you understand me better than anyone.”_

_“You know how much I need this, Jane.”_

_“I need you to talk to my dad, Jane.”_

_“Why didn’t you choose me when I needed you the most, Jane? You’re like a sister to me.”_

_“You’re an outsider, Jane.”_

_Then his face turned dark. Distorted by greed and hunger. A gun manifested out of nowhere in his hand, the cold metal of the muzzle pressed against her forehead, between her eyes. Jane was panting, looking up to Paul with fear and disbelief in her eyes as his index finger applied more pressure on the trigger._

“No! Paul!” Jane suddenly awoke. Hyperventilating. She sat up in terror and looked around in a confused manner. It was a nightmare. She never had a dream like this before. Paul and the cold feeling of metal of the gun pressed against her head felt so damn real. She breathed out, wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Shit!” Jane groaned when the sensation of pain was registered.

The wound was ripped open again, blood seeped through the fabric and wetted her hand. Standing up, Jane first focused on the breathing to calm her mind as she stared at the black void. In that darkness, Paul’s face appeared, his blue eyes staring back at her as if he were really there.

“Out of all the people, why you? _”_ She asked him, but he just smiled at her.

Then mixed feelings of anger, betrayal and sadness finally had caught up to her. Her emotions erupted uncontrollably. Her rage unleashed.

“You stupid fuck, Paul! After all the shit we’ve been through together, you rather trust them over me?! You’re supposed to be the smart one here. It’s us against the world! How can you do this to me! FUCK YOU!!!”

Jane slammed her fists on the glass wall again and again while shouting hysterically to the darkness of the space. She screamed at the top of her lungs until all her rage was spent. The violent motion aggravated her wound, but she didn’t care. She felt like there was a hole in her heart, a small hole that Paul had left and it would not be healed any time soon.

By the time Jane was done venting, she was panting for air and Paul’s face disappeared. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths: _Do not let your emotions control you._ Few seconds later, Jane opened her eyes and returned to her normal self. She checked the wound, it wasn’t fatal but it wasn’t looking too good either, she had to close the gap to stop the bleeding and prevent infection. Some superglue would be handy, but even that was a luxury now. She sighed inwardly, looked like she’d have to ask _him_ for help again _._ She almost chuckled at her awkward situation.

“Hello?” Jane called out as she wandered around in his spaceship. No response.

The place was empty, she didn’t see another living soul here. Knowing he was cloaked, she tried to shout again but stoped herself. Shit, she didn’t even know his name. Oh well, whatever.

“Ghost, where are you?” Jane shouted as loudly as possible, “my wound is open again, I need to fix it before it gets infected.”

“Come out, Ghost. I need your help.” She winced in pain, still looking for him.

Soon enough, Jane heard a crackling sound of the cloaking device coming to life as the green alien materialized before her eyes. Tall and strong just like she remembered, he wasn’t wearing his mask this time. Jane stared at him for a moment and lifted her shirt up, exposing the bloody injury to him.

“Is there some kind of fancy medicine you can use to heal this?”

“Foolish female.” Gahtan lowered his eyes to her wound and snorted.

If he was speaking in his language to her, she failed to understand it. His words sounded like a series of _GRRRRRs..._ to her.

“English, please. I speak four languages on earth, but I don’t understand your alien guttural growls at all. Can you fix this?” Jane asked him again urgently.

While Jane was waiting for his reply or deep growls, he approached and stopped before her. He wasn’t too close, but close enough for her to see the visible scars on his masculine body which made her wonder what kind of vicious creatures were capable of injuring this strong guy and what his life was like. Then a small container revealed in his palm broke her train of thought. She knew it instantly, turned her body slightly to give him a better access to her flank. He submerged a clawed finger in the ointment, applied it to her wound. Immediately, the pain was gone, she witnessed the gap closed in seconds, leaving a pink scar. Geez, his species was way advanced than she thought.

“Fuck, this is sick, Ghost. Thank you. Now my neck, please.” Jane exclaimed in wonder, exposed her neck to him where the knife had left a cut on her flesh, as well.

She heard that growling sound again, “can we communicate in English? It’s frustrating to me for not knowing whether you’re talking to me or cursing me, or you—”

Jane’s mind suddenly went blank when his face lowered down to apply the ointment on her neck. His face was so damn close to hers right now, she could feel his hot puffs of breath on her neck, tingling her skin. His finger pad felt warm and his touch was surprisingly smooth and gentle. Jane quickly shifted her focus to his tubelike hair instead, but it made her wonder what it would feel like in her hand. Thank goodness he moved away from her once he finished applying the medicine. She let out a sigh of relief. Damn. That was awkward and weird.

“Wait, do you have any food and water? I need to eat something.” Jane cleared her throat and stopped him before he was about to leave again.

He turned around, his mandibles twitched then flared slightly at her. _Annoyed or agitated maybe?_ Jane made a mental note at the expression. After he gazed at her for a moment, Jane followed him to a kitchen area, she assumed. There was a large kitchen counter or a table, then he reached into a cupboard, dropped a slab of meat and a jug of water on top of it. The meat was bluish green color.

“I hope this is not poisonous to me.” Jane poked the meat with a finger with reluctance. _And no utensils?_ Jane frowned inwardly, for someone with such advanced technologies, he sure eats like a barbarian.

He nudged the meat to her with an impatient look. Jane torn a piece of the meat, studied for a second. At least it was cooked. She brought it to her mouth and tasted it.

“Why does everything taste like chicken?” She murmured to herself.

And no veggies on the side. Geez, first day on this alien ship, she already began to miss the chef meals she used to have. One of the many highlights working for Ed Carson, now proved to be a bad karma in this situation. The chefs really spoiled her taste buds, but this wasn’t a good time to be finicky. Jane took another bite and started eating when her stomach growled with hunger. Deep down, she was grateful that Ghost was willing to feed her. After all, he was pretty mad at her for not leaving. To distract her mind from the human delicacies, Jane looked up from her unappetizing meat to continue the conversation. Well...a monologue.

“I know I called you Ghost earlier, my bad. But that’s because we never had a proper introduction. I’m Jane Campbell. You can call me Jane. What’s your name?” She asked, but no response was forthcoming from him as his attention was devoted to the hologram projected above his wrist device. He was reading something, either he was a quiet type or he simply didn’t want to talk to her.

She tried another approach, her intent eyes fixed onto his emerald green ones unflinchingly, trying to read him. “Thank you for saving me. I owe you a life debt now.” She flashed him a big smile while looked him in the eye.

That definitely triggered something because his green eyes locked onto her face, but he still said nothing to her. Then he left with a snarl. Shit. He was quite hard to read, other than the fact that this misanthropic alien did not like her being here. _Why did you save me then?_ She looked perplexed, watching him walked away from her until he was cloaked once again.

Half hour later, Jane finished eating and she felt her strength returned. Since there was nowhere else to go, she started to admire the structure of the spacecraft as she explored the place alone. Jane noticed she didn’t have access to the controls nor other rooms. He didn’t trust her and she was not surprised. She kept going, continued to familiarize herself with the layout.

This ship definitely reminded her of her penthouse apartment, the gunmetal grey color matched with her furniture. There were only three people who had been to her room: Jack, Ed and Paul Carson. Jane didn’t like visitors. She liked her place spotless clean, a smudge or a water spot on the surface would make her mind feel unease, so she eliminated the need of unnecessary furniture. And this ship felt the same way which she honestly found it appealing to her eyes. From the color to the efficiency design, and most importantly, the tidiness. The OCD part of her brain was immensely satisfied at seeing such well-organized place, free of dust and clutter. She must give him credit for keeping the ship in such fine condition. Not every man she’d had chance to know was that tidy like him. Admittedly, she was impressed.

When Jane reached to the observatory where she had been sleeping earlier, she knew this was the end of her exploration for now. Also the best spot for stargazing, a place for peace and tranquility. Innumerable stars as bright as diamonds flung across the endless space shone upon the glass of the observatory. It was stunning. She placed both hands in the pockets of her pants and stood upright silently as she enjoyed this peaceful moment. With her injuries healed, Jane was finally able to think clearly again. She appeared to be gazing at the dark space ahead expressionlessly. However her mind was swirling with thoughts, thinking about the recent events that had unfolded. Fortunately, Jane did not see Paul’s face showing up beyond the glass wall this time.

She had survived. Much to her surprise. She had thought she was finished. After all, she did just screw up his plan by staying here. But the green-eyed alien spared her life for reasons unknown to her at the moment. And now he was hiding himself behind that invisibility cloak. Yet he showed up again - albeit unwilling - when she needed his assistance. _He’s not a foe._ Jane mentally removed him from her hit list. He didn’t want to kill her, that was a big relief, because she’d never stand a chance against him without a weapon, he was too strong for her. Speaking of which, now she felt naked without a gun.

But she needed information from him - about where they were going, for how long and whether or not he would be taking her back to earth. She didn’t even know what date it was today. It was always dark in the space. Then again, she only had herself to blame for this. She moved on.

Frankly speaking, Ghost wasn’t that scary like he appeared to be. Just a highly-skilled big green alien with strikingly beautiful green eyes. A bit grumpy maybe, but he did save her. Like a white knight in shinning armor. Even better, her white knight had a goddamn spaceship and cloaking device. He wasn’t a foe and certainly not a friend as of yet. If they could get along with each other, then things might turn out well for her. In that moment, Jane decided to play along nicely with him. She needed him on her side.

_Time to make a friend._

Jane almost chuckled at the word _friend._ As a well-trained mercenary dedicated to The Carsons, she had more foes in her life than friends. Or she should say she had no friends. This would be a nice learning experience, hopefully it’d be fun. Jane still had no accurate idea of who she was dealing with here, but she somehow had a feeling that Ghost would make a decent companion.

In all honesty, she was actually looking forward to it. The possible fact that he could be anywhere, or maybe even here watching her right now made Jane check her surroundings. A faint smile played across her lips imperceptibly.

“It’s time to get you out of the shadows, Ghost. Let’s play face-to-face.” Jane whispered to the dark space. Then she moved away from the glass wall.

Interesting times ahead. Indeed.

After his training, Gahtan looked for the female to ensure that she wasn’t causing any trouble. He found her in the observatory. The female was asleep but mumbling incoherent words with her head moving from time to time. It was certainly new to him and it had caught his attention. With curiosity, Gahtan decided to stay and observe. Besides, with the ship programmed to follow the tracker in auto-pilot mode, there was no need for him to stay at the helm, except to study her ooman behavior.

He paused not far from her spot, watching her brows knitted together and murmured. She appeared to be disturbed in her sleep. Whatever she was dreaming of, it wasn’t pleasant. He swore he could smell the stench of her fear in the air when her mind was about to collapse under the strain. He thought about waking her up. Then a scream escaped her mouth as she finally woke up from her disturbed slumber.

This was actually the first time he had seen her in such frightened state. Gahtan snorted, deep down she was still a ooman. Just like any other oomans he had hunted, their fear was a sign of weakness, no matter how calm she’d acted in front of him today.

But a short moment later, he watched her fear changed into rage, yelling and banging wildly like a caged beast. From her shouting, it wasn’t hard for Gahtan to piece everything together. Someone she trusted had betrayed her, even tried to kill her - Oomans were good at killing each other over worthless things, most of them were dishonored, unworthy of his hunt - that’s why she was injured so badly when he found her that night. No wonder she lost control. And that fire in her eyes had honestly surprised him, he rarely got to see it in other oomans. Then he was struck for the second time when her rage suddenly grounded to a halt.

A second ago, she was incensed and the next second her rage disappeared. Replaced by her calm demeanor again like the violent outburst she’d displayed earlier had never happened. Just like that, her face was expressionless, unbothered.

A ooman with strong self-control. Gahtan was visibly impressed. Interesting female.

His observation was quickly interrupted when she called out for him. _Foolish female._ He said to her after seeing the injury she had inflicted onto herself. He couldn’t believe her little ruse had worked on him. Which later Gahtan realized she had used his pride as bait. And he took it. Now he was mad at himself, and her, too. But he must admit she was the first ooman who had managed to achieve that on him. For that reason, Gahtan decided to be magnanimous. It was a minor injury he could easily fix anyway. He took out the healing gel and walked over to her.

Her skin was soft like all oomans, however the first thing he noticed was her unique female scent. When he first met her, she was covered in blood and blood was all he could smell from her. Now that she was completed healed. There was something different about her scent, in a pleasant way.

He let out a stuttered growl inadvertently. Gahtan was considered well-versed in oomans among his kind with the comprehensive data he had collected over the countless hunting trips to earth. The sapient species was fun to hunt. They were cunning. However this particular scent was new to him. Apart from the smell of fear, all of the oomans he’d hunted also had strong body odor. When they sweat, it gets worse, he could scent that stench from a mile away. Even Bau’jah’s ooman mate, Ray needed a daily bath to remove that smell. But this female had none.

To make sure Gahtan took the advantage to move closer to her whilst applying the gel on her exposed neck. There it was, much stronger now. That natural, stink-free scent. Sweet, tantalizing and delectable. A fertile female.

Gahtan moved away as he pondered why she smelled so different. But she stopped him, the female wanted some food. He felt annoyed. It was just difficult for him to see a ooman on the ship. He quickly pulled himself together. The female had gone days without nourishment since they met. She needed to eat. Gahtan got some cooked meat that was suitable for her ooman stomach. And from her grumbling, he could see the food wasn’t her liking, not that she had any choice if she didn’t want to starve to death.

While she was eating, he took another look at her face. Without doubt, she was strikingly attractive by ooman standards. Her features clearly indicated mixed ancestry, adding another exotic appeal to her beauty. And that might be what caused her unique scent. Gahtan brought up the hologram from his wrist computer, glancing through the data he’d collected on oomans to show his disinterest when she started talking again. He didn’t want to know her, let alone get close to her. That’s why he hadn’t bothered to speak to her in her language. In fact, there’d be no unnecessary conversations between them during this dreadful flight. Until he gets her out of here.

 _My name is irrelevant, Jane._ Gahtan intentionally ignored her question. Kept searching for the information.

 _A minor genetic mutation._ Gahtan said to himself at the discovery. The female was missing apocrine glands which were mainly responsible for producing body odor. She must had inherited either from her bearer or father since this was a common genetic mutation in East Asia on earth. He’d been to that region few times during feudal era. A mixed race female. That explained her enticing scent. Mystery solved.

 _Thank you for saving me. I owe you a life debt now._ Gahtan heard the female saying it to him absentmindedly. He wished he hadn’t done that. If he knew she would be this hard to get rid of, he wouldn’t have saved her. And again, if she was really sincere about repaying him for saving her life, she should have obeyed him. She should have followed his commands, no matter what he tells her. In this case, definitely not disobeying him when he told her to leave.

 _Wait, did the female really say that?_ He could hardly believe his ears.

Suddenly, Gahtan directed his full attention at her. She was smiling at him with a ooman expression which conveyed affection or contentment. It resulted him to scent her smell again. Immediately, he felt his anger returned. She was probably up to something no good, or she simply had no basic idea of what that claim means. Studying her scent had made him lose a clear head for a moment. In retrospect, perhaps that was a mistake. He shouldn’t have done it. Regardless how incredible she smelled, she was a ooman. His hunting brother might have planted that idea into his head. But he wasn’t going to be swayed easily by a ooman like Bau’jah did. He was better than that.

Shaking that dark thought away, Gahtan snarled and left. All things considered, cloaking around her to minimize their contact seemed like a great idea. Not because of his lack of confidence of course. He didn’t want to risk it.

Not a chance.

After leaving, Gahtan decided to spend some alone time in his observatory. There he stood and looked at the bright, distant stars flying past him. A long moment past, he tried to relax but his mind refused to comply. With the bad bloods were leading him closer to their clan location. He couldn’t help but to think about what he was going to do next. Most importantly, what was Bau’jah going to do with this information? Was Bau’jah really going to do _this_? Gahtan had a bad feeling that this whole thing was going to get ugly. No doubt about it.

He lost his train of thought when the female showed up in the observatory, too. C’jit, the female had invaded his personal space now. This was not his day. Although he was still cloaked. He supposed that’s what he get for having a ooman onboard. Gahtan suppressed a low growl. Bau’jah was probably having a best time with his lifemate right now while he suffered. Why should he be concerned about his hunting brother anyway. He had enough trouble here. Trouble like Jane who was standing not far from him, gazing at the space.

She was oblivious of his presence. So quiet and so composed. Unlike other oomans, he couldn’t read her. For some reason it irritated him, maybe he wasn’t used to seeing this kind of composure on a ooman. He glanced at her profile and wondered what she was thinking. Since the moment she woke up, she just wasn’t acting like what he had expected from her. To be honest, he was equally annoyed and equally intrigued by her unpredictable behaviors.

For a long while, there was nothing but silence surrounding them as they stared at the cold, yet beautiful space. Each of them had their respective thoughts in their own mind, brooding. And a curious idea of how she was raised to turn up like this kept nagging at Gahtan. He looked at her, caught her blank expression slipped for a second as a faint grin appeared on her face, it was imperceptible, he almost missed it. The female was definitely up to something.

Gahtan gazed at her back when she turned to leave. And from her low whispers, it seemed like the female was actually looking forward to seeing him. Interesting. All the oomans he’d ever encountered were either on his trophy wall or certainly never wanted to see him again.

Was he concerned? Not quite, more like he was surprised by her foolish bravery. No way this female could overpower him. With or without a weapon. If she was indeed plotting something against him, he wouldn’t hesitate to teach her a lesson. She obviously had no idea of who she was dealing with here. He would show her his true nature if that’s what she wanted. And perhaps she wouldn’t be so keen on seeing him again. Maybe even leave his ship.

“Let’s just see how long you can last, Jane.”Gahtan said to her after she left.

Whatever she was planning in her cunning ooman brain. He would be ready to play her game. 


End file.
